In the Nick of Time
by Angel Reckless
Summary: If things were not already hard enough, now Daryl had this strange girl to deal with. She was just a kid, but for some reason, she stayed on his mind more than he would admit. Women were a pain in his ass and this one was no acception. Daryl/OC Horror/Romance/Distrubing situations. Not for the easily offended.
1. Chapter 1 - Revision

I do not own, nor do I profit from anything having to do with "The Walking Dead, be it TV show, or comics. I am writing this for personal reasons only.

In the Nick of Time

Chapter 1 - Daryl

He had been in the woods hunting for a day and a half with little success. The weather was changing and the air growing cooler each day. Even the squirrels were spending more time in their nests. If he didn't find something to bring back to the others soon, he was going to feel like shit. It was the one thing he knew he could do that none of the others could and they were counting on him. And strangely enough, he didn't want to let them down.

As he walked he realized that he was intensely listening to something without being conscience of it. It sounded like voices but he was still too far away to be certain. Using his hunter's instinct, he moved in the direction from which the sound was coming.

When he grew close enough he thought at first he was imagining what he heard. Merle?

After moving a bit closer he became certain it was his brother and another man talking. Past experience had taught him not to rush into a Merle situation blind. He had not seen his brother in months and, although he missed him so much, he would be a fool to walk into this without learning more first. Merle had been gone a while and there was no telling what sort of man he had become since the day he cut off his own hand to escape the roof top where he was left, handcuffed.

Once he was within decent range to see the men and hear what they were saying he noticed a third person knelling on the ground between the two men, a hood over its head and hands bond behind it's back. It was clear the person was either a teenage boy or,

from the size of it's frame, a female. Daryl thought to himself that if the hands were bound, then it was safe to assume there was a gag involved as well.

This assumption was based on the many times, that he, as a child, had been bound, gagged and forced into a closet, 'For his own protection' by his father. This happened on a regular basis after his mom had passed away and pop ran off with one skank or another. There had been timed when Daryl had spent up to three days in that closet before Pop would drag himself back home.

It took less than 3 seconds for him to realize it was indeed a female and not a teen, due to the fact that the two men were haggling over a trade agreement in order for Merle to get possession of the person was kneeling at his feet. Merle would not make such a fuss over another male, but a girl all to himself, that would suit him fine.

Due to the fact that Merle offered the man a fairly substantial amount of pain killers and tranquilizers it was safe to assume that Merle had many opportunities to break into numerous pharmacies and steal all the drugs a man could want or need and from what he could tell Russell felt this was a fair trade. Daryl heard Merle agree to return the next day with the drugs.

Merle knelt down to the figure kneeling at his feet and said "Hope yer used to kneeling girl, you gonna be workin' off the cost of them drugs for a good while," he snarled.

Daryl knew the girl was in for a world of hurt if Merle got his hands on her. Hand, got his hand on her. It was still hard for him to get used to the fact that Merle only had one remaining hand. It was painful to think of what it must have been like for his brother, stranded on that rooftop, desperate enough to saw off his own hand to gain his freedom.

It would not be the first time that his brother had taken liberties with a woman against her will. He had actually raped a girl when he was about nineteen. The girl had only been seventeen. When Daryl heard about it, he did not speak to Merle for almost 2 years. Daryl had been raised to respect women. Hell, he was mostly uncomfortable around them, and would never put his hands where they were not wanted. But somehow, Merle missed that particular lesson.

Now that terms were agreed on, Merle started to walk back towards the woods, but hesitated. A stern expression on his face, his eyes got all squinty like he was concentrating hard. Did he sense his brother close by? They had always had a weird connection between them and it would not surprise Daryl if Merle sensed his presence.

After a few more seconds of listening and eyeballing the surrounding area, Merle seemed satisfied and moved on. Daryl knew it would be best to stay under cover for a while longer just in case Merle was hanging back to see if anything out of the ordinary happened once he walked away. This also gave him time to think of a plan.

The girl rolled onto her side and tried to move as close as she dared to the small campfire. She shivered, either from the cold or fear, most likely both. She was wearing a man's dirty white long sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans about 3 sizes too big for her. At least she was given a belt to hold them up. She wore no shoes; Russell must have thought she would not dare run off barefoot. Maybe it had worked, she was still with him.

Russell sat down across from the girl and reached into a bag next to him and pulled out a nearly full bottle of some dark liquor. He pulled off the cap, and spent the next hour taking frequent sips off the bottle while he prodded the fire from time to time. He completely ignored the girl, and she made no sound at all. After another 15 minutes his movements started becoming more and more uncoordinated as it became clear his was getting close to wasted. It would not be long now.

Russell reached once more into the bag and pulled out a blanket. This made Daryl even angrier. The girl was cold and all this time he had a blanket she could have been using. But instead, he wrapped himself in it, lay on his side and was soon asleep. Daryl waited until he had been snoring for 20 minutes before he began his silent approach to the figures lying next to the fire.

By looking at the hood that has been placed over her head, he could make out right where her mouth would be, as well as her ear. He walked up so silently the girl was unaware there was another person in the vicinity. Daryl reached down and placed his hand over her mouth at the exact same moment he leaned in and whispered into her ear.

"Don't scream, I ain't gonna hurt you, understand?" he said.

She began to shiver harder, he was certain she was now terrified.

But after taking a deep breath to calm her, she shook her head yes.

"OK, I got a few questions for ya before deciding what I am gonna do. Now first, are you with this man by consent? She immediately shook her head no!

"Do you want me to help you?" She hesitated, wondering if she would end up in a worse situation with this one than the one called himself Merle. After giving it a few seconds thought, she shook her head again, yes.

"Just two more questions and we can get the hell out of here. Did he hurt you?" he heard a tiny sob in the back of her throat as she shook her heard again, yes. "Did he take advantage of you against your will?" This time she shuddered a bit, most likely recalling a particularly painful time in the recent weeks, and again, shook her head yes.

He whispered one last time in her ear, I am gonna step away from you for a minute, I won't be any more than about 3 feet away, then I will come back and take you away from this fucking place, understand?"

She shook her head one last time. Daryl stepped away from her, took out his larger hunting knife and cut Russell's throat with one swift movement. He then walked back to the girl, picked her up in his arm, hands bound and all, and carried her off into the woods.


	2. Chapter 2 - Revision

I do not own, nor do I profit from anything having to do with "The Walking Dead, be it TV show, or comics. I am writing this for personal reasons only.

In The Nick of Time

Chapter 2 - Girl

She had been born Gaelynn Isabella Alexander, she'd had a difficult life from the get go. She was removed from her parents home when she was 13. The nurse at school noticed she was turning up in the sickroom far too often, but she did not seem to be faking, she would throw up during about a third of the visits. She was pale and looked as if she never slept. The nurse was concerned enough to send the young girl to a councilor to see if she could get her to talk about any issues she might be having at home that would cause a nervous stomach and a lack of sleep. What the councilor found was that she was being sexually abused by her step-father and had been for about two years. Now the girl was pregnant. She was placed in foster care, agreed to an abortion and stayed with the family until she was 17.

She met Tristan at the bowling alley near her foster home and they hit it off immediately. He was 16 and gay. He was teased and bullied relentlessly at school. They both were so broken and damaged inside that they felt as if they were one person instead of two. They could predict what the other was going to say moments before they opened their mouth. They introduced each other to their favorite bands, movies, books, and found they shared the same taste in a great deal of different things.

After one especially difficult day at school where Tristan was beaten so badly his right eye has swollen shut and they both thought his nose would never stop bleeding, they decided to run away together. She thought it could not be any worse then her current situation, right? Little did she know the world as she knew it was about to change forever, and yeah, it turned out things could get worse, a lot worse.

She and Tristan had managed to survive by hiding in empty houses and scrounging whatever they could to eat. He left their current squatters haven, saying he was going to find some cigarettes or die trying. Didn't he know, when the world turns to shit, you just don't say things like that? Sure enough, he returned so late that she had almost given him up for dead. She cried and hit him in the stomach at the same time, then hugged him close. Vowing not to ever let him leave alone again.

It was time to move on again, the area she was in was getting more and more dangerous each day. They both jammed as much food, and water into their backpacks and headed out early the next morning. Things seemed safer for some reason in the early hours of the day. They had passed out of the subdivision they had been traveling through and into the woods that not only surrounded it, but covered the next several hundred miles. Had they known this, they may have headed into a different direction.

Three days into their journey, they came across a lone man, who was standing next to a 3 wheeler and chopping wood. When he saw the two young people, he called them over and introduced himself as Russell. He said he was out gathering wood for his family who were back at a campsite about 100 or more yards away. He seemed friendly and pulled out his wallet to show them pictures of two beautiful little girls and an attractive woman, whom he referred to as the joys of his life.

"You two should join us, my wife would love another female to talk too, she gets so bored with just having me and the girls around all the time." Russell suggested, adding " You know, there is safety in numbers and you kids should not be wandering around alone in the woods."

They looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders and agreed, seemed like a good idea and maybe the woman had real food and cooked. It has been a very long time since their last hot meal.

Russell finished cutting the wood, and climbed onto the 3 wheeler and rode it slowly in the direction he told them his campsite was. They had no trouble keeping up, he made sure of that. Once they had topped a small hill that was to lead them down to the campsite, he stopped for a moment, saying that the engine was missing or making an odd sound. He dismounted the machine, reached into a large sack that hung from the back of the seat and pulled out small wooden club. Before either Gaelynn or Tristan could react, he knocked Gaelynn out with the club, she was out like a light, not knowing if Tristan had been able to get away or not.

When she came too, she did so slowly, with the sounds muffled at first then growing clearer. She did not like these sounds, they were not good sounds and she wanted to stop hearing them, stop hearing sounds that brought back horrible memories. Her hands were tied behind her back and a hood had been placed over her head, making it impossible for her to cover her ears to shut out the noise. She would have screamed, but her mouth had something stuffed partially inside and kept her from making anything more than a groan or sob.

The sounds reminded her when her foster mother worked to tenderizing a large steak or other piece of meat. She would hit it over and over with a mallet kind of thing, making this smacking squishy noise that was unpleasant to hear even in a kitchen full of light. She could only imagine what Russell was doing and prayed it didn't involve Tristan, her very best friend, her only friend in this entire dead world.

She could hear that Russell was breathing heavily with the exertion of his efforts. Then suddenly, the sound stopped. She was so relieved. Then she heard a soft fumbling sound, the same one she had heard right before Russell had turned to her and Tristan with an object in his hand and struck both of them, knocking them unconscious. That sound had been the beginning of this nightmare she found herself in.

There was a new sound now, not soft and fumbling, not a wet smacking sound, but a guttural gagging sound. One she had never heard before. This sound frightened her more than any of the others. She could smell a coppery odor fill the air, and that smell, she knew. It was blood. She had bled often at the hands of her step-father, and there was no mistaking the smelled of blood, a lot of blood. She wanted to think Russell was dressing a deer, or some other animal. The fact that she had not heard one sound from Tristan worried her but then again, she was unable to make much noise herself, so she held onto the hope that Tristan was lying nearby, as frightened as she was. She wished she could find him, hold his hand, and comfort him as he would comfort her.

She had never wished for something more in her entire life.


	3. Chapter 3 - Revision

I do not own, nor do I profit from anything having to do with "The Walking Dead, be it TV show, or comics. I am writing this for personal reasons only.

In The Nick of Time

Thank you for all of those who have reviewed and started following this story, this is a ride we are taking together, this being my first attempt at this. All comments and reviews are greatly welcomed, and appreciated.

Chapter 3 – Russell Revised

He was chopping wood in a clearing that sat about a ten minute ride away from his campsite. He had been damned lucky to find the 3 wheeler, with keys and a full tank, at the almost entirely burned out farm he had stumbled across just the day before while hunting for supplies or anything else of worth.

He heard them before he saw them, he decided quickly to just keep doing what he was doing and let them approach him. When he finally decided it was safe enough to look up, he felt like he had won the Power Ball Lotto! The boy was young, he guessed about 15 or so, with smooth, almost famine features, he was confident that the boy would be easy to take down. But the girl, the girl almost took his breath away. She was fucking gorgeous! She appeared to be a little older than they boy, with a petite build and long dark hair. When she was within about 10 feet from him, he could tell it was raven black. Her eyes were the oddest color and it took him a few moments to realize they were purple, or he guessed when it comes to eye color, they would call it violet. There was something about them that disturbed him, he could not put his finger on it, but remedied that unease by just not looking directly into her eyes if he could help it. Her body was kicking, with medium sized breasts, he was not one of those men who liked the large fake tits that many men loved to play with; he liked his natural. Hers were a good size and sat up nice and high, something rare among females over the age of 25. He put her age around 16 or 17, but who the hell cared about age anymore? Pussy was hard enough to come by these days and what he was looking at right now just happened to be a USDA Top Grade A piece of ass if there ever was one.

When the kids were close enough to start up his usual conversation about having a campsite nearby with his wife and two lovely daughters, he pulled out the wallet he always carried around in the event he got lucky and ran into other survivors he could take advantage of. He showed them the pictures of the attractive woman, he had no idea who she was but he always referred to her and the two little girls as the joys of his life, he didn't even bother to make up names for them, and he was rarely asked. He poured on the kind and gentle like it was honey, and as usual, he could see he was getting better and better at it, and most found him convincing.

He asked the kids if they wanted to join him and his family, that there was always more safety in numbers and that usually did the trick, especially when the survivors were young, basically desperate and stupid, Russell pretty much counted on it and used it to his advantage.

He loaded up his cut wood onto the ATV and drove it slowly, as he kept up the kind and gentle until it was about to make him puke. By this time he was only a few minutes to his campsite so he started his spiel about the engine of the ATV was sounding funny, and he wanted to stop and check some connections or some such lie. Once he dismounted the vehicle, he reached into the ruck sack that was hanging from the back of the seat and pulled out a small club. He hit the girl first on the back of her head, hard enough to knock her out but not enough to cause any real injury. He then dispensed of the boy in the same manner. Both feel to the ground unconscious.

He went to the girl first, she had introduced herself as Gaelynn, but in his excitement, he had already forgotten her name. He tied her hands behind her, and took a second to grope of one those nice firm tits. Oh yah, he was going to have him some fun with this one. Then, like the others that came along before these two, he would sell her to the highest bidder if he could find any. It was times like now that he really missed cell phones and computers. This fucked up world of the dead eating the living was really bad for business.

He placed a hood over her head and removed her shoes. He had found they were less likely to try to run away if they were barefoot. He then moved to the unconscious boy. He looked down at the boy's face for a few moments and thought to himself that this boy was almost as pretty as some of the girls he had come across since the world went FUBAR. Hell, he was even prettier than some of them.

He tied the boy's hands in front of him but didn't bother with a sack over his head. He glanced at the girl again, making sure she was completely out of it, and then made his decision about the boy. This would be a first for him and he definitely did not want an audience.

He took the ruck sack from the seat of the vehicle and slid it under the boy's hips, using it to raise them higher off the ground. He then reached under the boy and unbuttoned his jeans and pulled them along with his boxers down around his knees. He glanced around once more and then unbuckled his belt, unbuttoned his own pants and jerked them along with his skivvies down close to his own knees. He spit a few times into his hand and stroked his ever hardening cock with his spit covered hand. Once he was satisfied he was lubricated enough, he lifted the boys hips with one hand while directing his dick with his other. He took his time, pushing himself into the boy slowly, enjoying the tight sensation he was experiencing. Once he was all the way inside, he decided he wanted to get it over with, no matter how fucking good it felt, because he was so afraid someone would see. There was not much of a chance of this, but his paranoia over what he was doing made it seem possible. He started shoving himself in and out of the boy harder and harder and it only took a few minutes before he felt himself on the verge of coming. He gave one last satisfyingly hard shove and emptied himself inside the young boy.

He heard the girl start to moan a little so he jerked is pants back up, rolled the boy over face up. He looked down at the kid, and convinced himself it was the boy's fault he had done what he'd done. Anger overwhelmed him and he started beating the shit out of the boy with his fists. In his head he told himself the boy seduced him somehow, making him want to do something he never would have done otherwise, thus justifying the beating that he was laying on the kid. Russell knew that in the end, he was going to kill the boy at some point, so the beating was a bonus to him.

The girl was now awake, he was sure of it, and for some reason, it turned him on knowing she was listening to him beating the crap out of her boyfriend. He continued to pound on the boy until he was almost completely out of breath, then he reached into the ruck sack one last time, pulled out a sharp hunting knife and slit the boys throat with one stroke.

Behind him, she girl made a slight sniffing sound, and he was certain she could smell the blood that flowed from the gash in the kid's neck. He smiled to himself, thinking to himself how much fun he was going to have, telling her was he had done to her little friend.

This has started out to be just another boring day, but damned if it didn't turn out to be some of the best fun he'd had in ages. Yes sir, it did.

Note from Author: I apologize if this story seems to be slow in developing, I wanted to reveal the story from several different POV's without too much cross over. I am close to having all of the story converging to the same place in time. Thank you for your patience and please, review or comment, so I can gauge how the story is doing and make adjustments accordingly.


	4. Chapter 4 - Revision

I do not own, nor do I profit from anything having to do with "The Walking Dead, be it TV show, or comics. I am writing this for personal reasons only.

In the Nick of Time

Chapter 4 - Merle

"_Your hands are always reaching out of favor._

_Your kind are only good for bad behavior_

_Your mouth was never one to trust._

_You're always speaking out,_

_Falling far behind,_

_Falling out of line."_

_The Birthday Massacre_

"How the hell did I end up with this bunch of absolute morons?" Merle thought to myself. There ain't a nigger, spic, or chink among them, all white, but still complete morons!

He had to find some sort of distraction soon or he would start offing his own crew of renegade bandits. At least that would put a smile on his face, and his mug had not held a smile in…. well, as far back as he could remember.

He sat there, watching them, laughing toothless laughs, and lighting each others farts…. Had all of them been dropped on their heads at birth? Or was this some sort of punishment for his own past indiscretions?

"I'm gonna go for a walk, you idiots are stinking up the campsite, need me some fresh air" he said as he stomped away into the woods. He didn't fear roaming the woods alone, even with one hand he could take down a walker or two better than most men with two. He was bored and it was really starting to irritate him.

After walking for about an hour or two, he heard voices coming from somewhere up ahead, but was still too far away to make out what was being said or even the gender the voices belonged too.

He picked up his speed, but still barely made a sound as he closed in on the folks having what sounded like a harsh conversation. By now, he could tell one of the voices was definitely female, and even that singular thought alone warmed his blood, not to mention caused him to gain a slight erection. It has been that long for him.

When he was close enough to see the figures, he made out a somewhat heavy set man, dressed similar to himself, a slight figure, he figured this to be the female, laying on the ground at the man's feet. There was another smallish figure whose head was turned away from Merle, laying on the ground as well, both prone figures were unconscious. Looks like the big man won what ever argument that had been going on when he first overheard them. These kids were out cold.

Not wanting to disturb the man right away, Merle settled back where he could see and was a little more comfortable. Voyeurism was one of his favorite hobbies and he had not been able to indulge in that particular slice of fun in a long fucking time. He watched as the man stared down at the figure that was turned away from Merle, then the man kneeled down to get a closer look and turned the figure's face up so that even Merle could see that it was clearly a boy, an androgynous, pretty boy, but he was certain the figure was male. He looked at the boy a moment longer, then glanced at the unconscious girl with what appeared to be a bit of guilt on his face. Merle could not imagine what the man had to feel guilty about, the girl's head was covered with a hood of sorts. Its not like she could see him or know what he was doing, she was fucking out of it, so what the hell?

Then as things began to unravel, Merle knew instinctively what the man was up too and why the guilty look had been on the asshole's face. No matter how pretty the boy' features were, he was still a fucking dude! Merle could tell this ass hole was about to rape the boy. Of all the things Merle hated in this fucked up world, faggots were his least favorite. He hated the disease spreading nasty ass faggots that, even before the world went FUBAR, were trying to take over. As far as Merle was concerned, they had been hell bent on ruining this great country with all their whining about equality and getting hitched. Merle felt helpless about it, until he caught him one of those Nancy boys all by himself. Merle would kick his ass and feel proud to have done so! What made him angrier still was the fact that the man had a perfectly fine piece of ass on hand, that made this just plain wrong. Merle decided at that moment that he was going to take the girl and kill that mother fucker if it was the last thing he did.

He kept his head turned in the other direction, he loved watching people fuck, but not this, this was just sick. He waited until he could hear the obvious sounds he had been expecting, as the ass hole finished diddling the boy. When he finally looked in that direction again, the man was tugging his britches up. All of a sudden, he started to beat the shit out of the boy, as if his perverted behavior was the boy's fault, and not his own. Merle heard the girl starting to return from the dark and quiet place the asshole had sent her, so the man quickly reached into a sack, pulled out a large hunting knife and slit the boy's throat, allowing him to bled out with his jeans still around his knees. That image even made Merle a little sick to his stomach. But this was not the time to get all judgmental about other folk's behavior, he needed to come up with a plan fast. He needed to be able to talk to this fuck was without the revulsion showing on his face. No easy feat but Merle was up to the challenge.

He gave the man time to turn his attention to the girl, only after he made sure the boy's jeans were back in place in case the girl's hood came off while he was getting his rocks off with her. He could care less if she saw his throat slashed, but he sure as hell didn't want her to see any evidence of what he had just done to the boy.

After making that important adjustment, he knelt down to the girl and said something low and with a growl, something Merle could not make out, but could easily imagine. Fortunately his being out of breath could be attributed to the beating he had just handed out to the boy, and not to the rather quick act of sodomy he had just completed.

Merle sat and watched the man rape the girl. Normally, he would have enjoyed this, but the scene prior to this rape had spoiled any enjoyment he felt was his right, and this made him hate the man even more. This rape took much longer than the one he perpetrated on the boy, his being close to Merle's age, more than likely after he shot his wad the first time, the second time was likely to take some time.

Once the man had finished his business with the girl and had all her private parts nicely packed away, Merle crept back into the woods about 15 yards and then started his way back to the other man's campsite. Only this time, he made sure he was making enough noise that the man could hear him coming. He even started to whistle some dumb country tune he couldn't remember the name of. He hoped that the whistling would set the man at ease, it's not often that someone with killing on their mind would approach his intended victim, whistling.

The man jumped to his feet, made sure his pretty little prize was covered up decent and turned his attention to the whistling man walking towards him with a huge smile on his face.

"Howdy!" the man said with a sappy sort of pleasantness in his voice. "Name's Merle, been walking these parts for a few days now, sure am glad to come up on another living soul, I sure as shit am!"

The other man was a little taken aback by Merle's overly friendly, 'in your face introduction'. He was able to gathered himself quickly, thinking he did not want to be taken advantage of, or robbed of his pretty prize. It was important to get his head into the game right fast. He cautiously held out his hand to shake with, before noticing that Merle was one hand shy. This comforted him, putting him at ease a bit, no way in hell was a one handed man gonna take anything from him. No way in hell!

"Russell's the name, glad to meet ya. What you doing roaming these parts alone? No disrespect intended but you only got the one hand and them walkers are not the easiest things to put down, even when you gots two!" he chuckled, thinking he was being very amusing.

"True, true" said Merle, "I guess I can thank the good Lord I ain't dead or worse by now. I am a lucky son of a bitch, that I am. So, what this you got here? Looks like I ain't the only one that should be giving thanks, if you catch my meaning."

Russell's wariness raised it's head again, but he decided he was not too concerned, the man didn't sound a bit judgmental or even acted as if anything unusual was going on.

"Oh, this? This here is just a couple a kids I just run across not much more than an hour ago I reckon. Didn't have much use for the boy, heh, but the girl is right pretty and will make my next few nights a hell of a lot warmer!" He chuckled again, and let loose a little hoot at the end of it like it was Christmas, his birthday and the 4th of July all rolled into one. A true redneck's salute if Merle ever heard one.

Merle squinted his eyes a bit, looking at what he could see of the girl, and took his chances and casually asked what Russell planned to do with her if he got bored with having to care for her, and shit like that. He was gonna have to feed her, get her some warmer clothes since he hadn't had the sense not to rip her current attire to shreds in his hurry to lay claim to her juicier parts. Of course Merle didn't put it to Russell in that manner, he made it sound less stupid of Russell. Then he threw in what he always felt was the clincher when it was time for him break up a couple, when he was tired of one of his friends staying too far up his girlfriend ass to be any fun for Merle.

"Ya know, you're gonna have to be attending to her monthly girlie needs too, and damned if I don't hate that shit," he said with just the correct amount of discussed in his voice. He talked like a man with experience when it came to what it was like when a new toy's shininess wore off, and how fast it happened sometimes. He was hoping that Russell would consider this and realize how much work the girl was going to be in order to keep her pretty and healthy, or basically, fuck-worthy. Merle hoped what he had said would play on the greed and laziness he was sure was in Russell's nature. Then maybe he would be willing to make a deal, and even think it was his own idea.

"Don't rightly know just yet. Not really hurting for anything I might could take in trade for her, I just come across that there 3 wheeler a few days ago, with keys and a full tank, that was a real nice find. Ain't much else I got a yearning for."

Merle looked at him, still coming off as 'not really that interested in the girl' and looked around the area, like he really was not paying that much attention to their conversation. Then he dropped the carrot so to speak and said " Well, I tell you what, I been pretty lucky myself when it comes to cleaning out some pharmacies along the road. I got me some real good pain killers, even some Morphine, some tranqs, and a couple a bottles of strong muscle relaxers. And you never know when you might need some good antibiotics. You don't know where that girl's been, and that boy looks to be about a queer as a three dollar bill! You know he's got to have something that's real nasty, hell, it might be spreading as we stand here talking. I hear tell that some of them diseases that faggots carry can be spread just by standing next to em." Merle finished with a fake shudder.

"I'll tell you what, I'll go back to my own sad excuse for a campsite, its about 2 to 3 mile east of here, and look at what all I got, see what I can spare, then come back in about a week. By that time, you might know more about if the girl is getting boring or not, but still gives you time to have your fun. I'd never stop a man from having the fun he's earned. Then we can maybe talk a deal."

Russell thought about this for a few moments, thinking about the time when he was younger and had to have some minor surgery, and how fucking good the morphine made him feel. Hell, he could always jerk off if he was lonely, but a really great buzz, that would be a nice thing to have on hand when these nights started getting colder.

"Alright, you see what you got and come back in a week, I'll still be right here. And most likely, I'll have use this little piece of ass so much I might be need'n a change of scenery. I will do you a solid though, and make sure I keep her in good condition for the next lover boy she meets, whether is you or someone else. I done this kind of trading a few times now since the female population done took a nose dive. And I done all right for myself. If you are still interested in her, we'll talk a deal then."

Merle shook his head, again, very casually, and said that sounded just fine to him, he weren't in no hurry. He'd come on back in about a week and if he found he was lonely enough, and Russell was thinking to make a deal, they could talk turkey and come up with some terms that both could be happy with. He turned, and whistling, walked back into the wood, the same way he came.

Please, continue to review and let me know if there's too much language, if its too vulgar, etc. Just trying to put myself in Merle's head and think like he might, and write his words as I think he himself would speak them. I am in no way, a bigot or intolerant of alternative lifestyles. Thanx to all that have reviewed and commented thus far. Keep em coming, and the chapters will continue as long as there is an audience for them. ;


	5. Chapter 5 - Revision

I do not own, nor do I profit from anything having to do with "The Walking Dead, be it TV show, or comics. I am writing this for personal reasons only.

In the Nick of Time

Chapter 5 Revision - Gaelynn, A Broken Girl

_On the way she imagines hands whispering into ears._

_Secretly hoping that he'll be there watching, _

_And she's also hoping he won't. _

_Walking tentative alone up the driveway, _

_Sees some people smoking off to the stops and waits until they go back in, _

_Crosses her fingers and follows behind._

_It's a long walk, and the music is sees an old friend,_

_As she walks through the crowd. _

_Puts on her best smile,But underneath she's a broken girl. "_

"_She Will Always Be a Broken Girl_

_By She Wants Revenge_

The first time she had regained consciousness, she could hear Tristan begging the man to let them go. He was not winning any arguments there. She could not see anything; something coarse and scratchy had been placed over her head. Her hands had been bound in front of her. She must have stirred a bit as she rose to the surface of awareness, because the man suddenly stopped talking. After a quick moment, she heard the sound of him hitting Tristan again with the same thing he had used earlier, when he first showed his the two of them his true colors and attacked them. She recalled seeing him reach into his ruck sack and pull out a six inch black rubber object from its depths, and hit Tristan in the back of the head with it. Somewhere in her brain the word "blackjack" came to mind. She had most likely seen such a weapon in a movie or on a TV show and knew what it had been called. Then he rushed towards her and delivered a sound blow. Then, nothing but darkness.

Now, she could feel herself begin to swim to the surface again, through the murky black of unconsciousness, slowly becoming aware of her surroundings. She felt confused and frightened and was certain this not somewhere she wanted to be. She recalled the last thing she remembered before being knocked unconscious for the second time. She had been listening to Tristan begging the man to let them both go, or to at least let her go. Tristan was the best that humankind had to offer, and the most decent person she had ever met or had in her short but traumatic life. It was just like him to willingly sacrifice himself for her. She doubted the man would let either of them go, so she consoled herself that at least Trist would not suffer nearly as much at the hands of this redneck prick, than what she had to look forward too.

As her awareness grew, she realized she did not hear any conversations this time, only odd sounds. These reminded her of the times her foster-mother would try to tenderize a cheap piece of meat she had bought. This noise was a combination of the sound of her birth father punching her in the stomach when she only 9, along with her step-mom working the meat, only wetter. She felt herself dying on the inside. He was beating her Tristan. She knew she had actually been hearing those sounds for a while now. She felt sick to her stomach. When the wet punching sound stopped, she heard a new sound, a guttural, gurgling sound. It was the sound of pain, and of dying. Her eyes filled with tears for the sweet boy she would never see again.

After a short silence, Russell began to move closer to where she lay. His breathing heavy; he must have worked up a sweat while killing her best friend. She felt her heart breaking into a gazillion pieces; tears flowed freely down her face and were absorbed by the coarse cloth that surrounded her head. She cried quietly, she was damned if she was going to show Russell one tiny second of weakness or she would die trying.

Then, just as she expected, she heard him kneel down with a grunt. His body odor was overwhelming. She felt a shudder of revulsion recoiled inside, but did not dare budge an inch physically.

'Listen up girl' she thought to herself, 'you have been through this shit and far worse before now. You can get past this, just keep your focus.'

Then, though she had not thought of this in years, she recalled how she had dealt with the many rapes and beatings she had endured at the hands of her step-father. When you are a child, your psyche takes over when what is happening to you is too much to bear. Her psyche would picture herself somewhere else, a wonderful place where there was sunlight, tons of color, and flowers everywhere you looked. There were so many flowers, she could even remember smelling them, the defense mechanism worked that well. This tiny imagined world in her head kept her sane for 2 years. Then folks started to finally pay attention and they took her from her home.

So in preparation of being assaulted again, she did her best to return to that field of safety and flowers, with all its glorious colors.

Nothing happened. She remained right where she was, laying on a cold area of dirt, wearing a scratchy hood, about to be violated.

Maybe by now, she was too old for her psyche to kick in and rescue her from any trauma she might encounter. No matter how hard she tried, she could not return to that place that kept her safe when she was only 11 or so. She figured that maybe it was because the world had gone so far FUBAR*, and it had been too long time since she had seen anything beautiful or colorful. She would have to come up with something else, and fast.

Russell was running his hands up her legs as he leaned down and growled at her, "Hello Baby Girl, wanna party? Let's just see what kind of naughty bits you got down there between them legs of yours".

He then started pulling and tearing at her clothes, in her panic to survive, the only reasonable thing she could come up with was to imagine he was someone else, someone that did not repulse her, someone she could see herself desiring had not so much damage been done to remove any normal urges she should have started feeling a few years ago, like normal girls. This was especially hard because she had never met anyone she felt any stirrings for in entire her life, and felt she never would. But, maybe, she could try to imagine someone from the silver screen that she had almost allowed herself to crushed on at one time, her one and only crush. This man had been a beautiful, dark haired young man, portraying an Irish vigilante in one of her and Trist's favorite movie "Boondock Saints" Shit, was what his name? In her panic, she drew a blank.

By now, Russell had most of her clothing ripped or pushed off to the side to get at her "naughty bits" and she lay sprawled before him.

Her mind switched into overdrive, and she focused all her energy on running through the alphabet in her head. This mnemonic device had helped her many times in the past, to come up with a name or word which had been tickling the tip of her tongue but she just could not spit out. This was the first time she was attempting to use it while under a great deal of pressure and stress, not to mention being close to vomiting from the smells that swallowed her when Russell was this damn close to her.

She heard Russell spit a few times into his hand; no doubt he knew she would be as dry as bones in a burial plot. She reached the end of the alphabet with nothing. Russell began to force his way inside her. Now she also could add pain to the list of distractions as she tried to concentrate. The pain was the color of red, and she could see bright spots of it inside her closed eyes.

Forcing herself to bear down and focus again, she remained completely still and started from the top. She was not going to struggle, cry or beg through her gag for him to 'Please stop!' If there was one thing she learned quickly with her step-father, and that was the more she fought him, the more he got off on it, and the more he would beat her after he had shot his gooey seed into her.

Russell continued to thrust himself in and out, grunting and groaning with each thrust. It was sickening to listen too but she had to turn it off and concentrate. She was at J, K, L, M, and N…. when her mind stuttered. Could that be it? Was it something beginning with N? She was almost certain it was N….. Nathan, Nicholas, Norman, NORMAN! That was it, Norman somebody. She tried to picture him, in his black pea coat, identical to his brother's, the crude rosary around his neck, such a sweet face, and his voice; both she and Tristan concluded that they had never heard a voice as soothing and sexy as his. She just lay there, trying to recall lines from the movie, not a difficult feat since they watched it at least once a week.

Russell had picked up his rhythm now, seeming to get closer to finishing the crude and ugly act he was subjecting her too. Then, finally, it was over, for now.

He pulled away, slapped her on the ass and said "Thank you kindly Baby Girl!" He then began to cover her up by pulling up her panties and jeans, while he attempted to reassemble her torn tee shirt. When he found those scraps would not cover her very well, he tossed a smelly light weight sheet over her prone body.

Then, she heard an unexpected sound, whistling…. A bit far off but growing closer. When the sound felt close, she heard 'Howdy! Name's Merle, been walking these parts for a few days now, sure am glad to come up on another living soul, I sure as shit am!"

Strangely enough to her, the two men chatted for awhile, completely ignoring the bond and hooded girl lying at their feet.

The happy traveler didn't seem at all surprised or disturbed at what he must see in front of him. She thought to herself, 'Where was Tristan's body? Didn't he see it? Couldn't he see she was in trouble?'

Within another few moments, she knew why he didn't seem to be at all troubled by the scene before him, a girl in dire need or a young boy dead at what might have been his feet.

He asked Russell what he planned to do with her once he got a little bored with her, or found something better. He was trying to make some sort of deal with him so that he could have her next! Oh God, she really didn't want to think about being passed around like a piece of meat, but, unfortunately, to the men, that was exactly what she was. This new development would surely drive her freaking bat shit crazy, she knew she could not stand much more and soon would tip over the edge of sanity. Maybe that would be the best thing that could ever happen to her. She could lay there drooling and staring at nothing while being defiled over and over. She could see herself welcoming that gladly.

As she lay there, helpless, she heard this new stranger say something positively disgusting about Trist! He called the boy a fucking Faggot, and said that the boy must have carried some disease or sickness other than the one that had destroyed the world as they had known it.

He had no idea how far he was from the truth he was, and if her hands had not been tied, she would have tried to gouge his eyes out! Tristan was a virgin! He had been too sweet, shy and insecure to start a sexual relationship at his age. He was more than likely the healthiest of the three males around her, two breathing bastards and one sweet boy who never hurt anyone his whole life. Tristan would feel terrible if he accidently stepped on a bee or if he hit anything while driving. He would turn around and go back, either to take it to the vet, or bury it. He could not leave it lying in the road. There were times when he would pay vet bills in small payments until the debt was paid in full, and would not rest until the animal was well again and adopted out to a new home. That had been her Tristan.

Merle suggested that they meet again in about a week and see how both men felt about working out a trade. Apparently she was being used as money to purchase drugs, if Russell was ready to make a trade. This made her nauseous. Russell agreed with the plan, and even promised to keep as her healthy and injury free as he could, to sweeten the deal.

The next thing she heard was the man start to whistle again and move off back into the woods.

* For anyone unfamiliar with the phrase FUBAR, Merriam-Webster fails to recognize the acronym, which dates from WWII and translates to Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition/Any Repair/All Reason.

I hope you are enjoying this sad twisted tale of mine and will continue to read, I am currently making some revisions for each chapter, and up to this one, just finished. There are some things in the story that didn't sit well with me and I felt some fine tuning was needed. Thank you to anyone and everyone who as reviewed or commented. Without you, I would have just dropped this and never finished. Now, on to Chapter 6's revision!

FUBAR!


	6. Chapter 6 - Revision

I do not own, nor do I profit from anything having to do with "The Walking Dead, be it TV show, or comics. I am writing this for personal reasons only.

In the Nick of Time

Chapter 6 Revision - Russell & Gaelynn

"_Don't worry, I ain't gonna hurt you_

_I only want you to have some fun_

_I was dreaming when I wrote this_

_Forgive me if it goes astray_

_But when I woke up this morning_

_Could a sworn it was judgment day_

_The sky was all purple,There were people running everywhere_

_Trying to run from the destruction,_

_You know I didn't even care_

_Cuz they say two thousand zero zero party over,_

_Oops out of time_

_So tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999"_

_1999 by Prince_

The week between when Merle left the campsite and was due to return felt as if it was lasting a lifetime. Russell took every opportunity to torment her, be it sexually, mentally, or emotionally. He seemed to love bring up Tristan and telling her all the grisly details concerning how the boy died. He even went as far as making things up if he thought it would hurt her more, although, she had no way to know for sure what was fact and what was just downright mean fiction.

One of the things he told her that stayed in her head almost every waking moment, was that right before he slit the boys throat, Tristan had cried for his mother first, then for Gaelynn. She could picture vividly the terror that must have been in his eyes, the tears that surely ran down his cheeks, and the way his voice's pitch got so much higher when he was overwhelmingly upset. It broke her heart daily as she tried to put those thoughts away somewhere, somewhere she would not be stumbling across them so fucking often.

As for Russell's sexual demands, he was, thankfully, very much on the boring side. Thank God he knew or seemed to know very little about sadomasochism, or other things she thought were way too freaky for a girl her age. Russell averaged about one rape a day, usually because he started drinking so early and by the evening, he was useless in the prick department. For this, she was truly thankful. And her little trick of picturing Norman Reedus'- - Yes! She had finally recalled his last name. Picturing his face above her during one of Russell's fumbling attacks worked well to a point. She knew that Norman was not as heavy as Russell, or would not smell nasty. And, try as she might, she just could not imagine Norman's sexy, honey dripped voice uttering the gross things that came out of Russell's mouth, like "My cock is so hard I might just cut you in half with it!" or "I would make you swallow my dick if I wasn't worried about you biting it off and swallowing it whole".

She thought to herself 'I mean, come on, how stupid can a hick be?'

So in order to drown him out, she would think of some of the great lines from "Boondock Saints" movies like Murphy during the courthouse scene saying _**"Do not kill. Do not rape. Do not steal. These are principles which every man of every faith can embrace" **__and_ her very favorite was from the second movie when Eunice says _**"On a sultry Saturday in September, the Saints saved seventeen souls" **_But mostly she just kept repeating the brother's prayer over and over

"_**And shepherds we shall be**_

_**For thee, my Lord, for Thee**_

_**Power hath descended forth from Thy hand**_

_**That our feet may swiftly carry out Thy command**_

_**So a river we shall flow forth to Thee**_

_**And teeming with souls shall it ever be**_

_**In nomine Patris et Filii et Spritus Sancti"**_

This prayer, more than anything gave her comfort and no matter

what Russell had on his filthy mind, she kept her focus on Reedus'

face; so sweet, so protective, and sensitive. If only he were real and

could come save her. She gave up thoughts of being saved the

moment she realized that Tristan was dead. She didn't think

she wanted to survive this ugly world with him.

She had nothing to look forward too, after the time she spent with

Russell, it would be that creep, Merle's turn. Somehow, she

envisioned him to be much more cruel and creative than anything

she or Russell could imagine.

The week was about halfway over when Russell had himself a grand idea. He figured in order to get the best deal possible from Merle, the girl would have to be in pretty good shape, including no bruises, or bleeding. She would need to smell a hell of a lot better than she did right now. So he figured he could give up the pussy in order to get a better deal on the drugs. She had been fun to play with but his attention span was short and he usually ended up passed out drunk rather than taking advantage of his situation. He was actually getting more excited about the promise of morphine and other drugs, than what was between the girl's legs.

So he gave it a lot of thought and decided to strike a bargain with

the girl. He figured he could promise not to lay another finger on

her, if she promised to clean herself up, and start eating. She ate very little of the food he had offered her and was growing thinner each day. Maybe she was trying to starve herself to death. He would have to convince her to eat more, and to behave when Merle returned. This way, Russell could insist that Merle pay him with more drugs in order to have this pretty little peach. He looked over at her just as she was closing her eyes to sleep; she looked kind of bad right now, in need of a lot of primping if this was going to work.

About 15 minutes after she had dozed off, he nudged her with his

boot, gently enough and asked " You awake?"

She ignored him. He put his boot down on her hand, and started to

apply more and more pressure until she showed him she was

indeed awake.

"I said are you awake Baby Girl! You best be answering me when

I talk to you!" he growled in her face. "This here is how its gonna

be for the next few days, see? If you behave yourself, eat what's

given to ya, and keep your trap shut about your faggot boyfriend

and shit like that, I might let you take a bath in the stream just over

that hill. You think about how good that would feel on your bones

after sleeping on the ground for so long, am I right? So you do as

your told, you get better treatment. And if you do what I tell you

the first time I say something I won't lay a finger on you, not even

for a quick fuck. But, if you piss me off, I know ways to make you

hurt that won't show up on the outside. Got me? No more pussy

for Russell, you got that? You think you can make a deal like

that?"

This had been the longest conversation he had ever had with her to

date, and she agreed right away. She really wanted that bath, she

felt so slimy and covered with filth, thanks to Russell. So they

agreed that the next few days would be much more peaceful.

That afternoon he heated up the can of beans rather than eating them cold out of the can. And opened a can of peaches he had been saving for a special occasion and offered them to her. She finally ate a decent meal then dozed off again, for the first time, with less trepidation on what she might wake up too.

Russell was counting the days until Merle's return, won't be long

now, he thought, and then, I be partying like its 1999, or whatever

that purple wearing black Faggot said in his song.


	7. Chapter 7 - Revision

I do not own, nor do I profit from anything having to do with "The Walking Dead, be it TV show, or comics. I am writing this for personal reasons only.

In The Nick of Time

Chapter 7 Revision "Glad to Meet You!"

Daryl & Gaelynn

_Crying loud you are crawling on the floor_

_Just a beautiful baby, you're nothing more_

_Close your eyes, you are crawling into sleep_

_I swear I won't break you_

_If you let me take you where the willows never weep_

_Coming quick into your wonderland_

_Flying high on bleached white sand_

_Tranquilized by lights you'll lose your way_

_Well just come with me and I'll make you see_

_With me you'll want to stay, can baby come out to play?_

_Circus lights are shutting slowly down_

_But still you're up in the air_

_And loving your wings, my dear you play the clown_

_You're still up in the air and loving your wings_

_What's gonna happen when you come down_

"_Clown" by Switchblade Symphony_

The next few days following Merle's first visit went just as Russell promised, peaceful compared to how the whole situation began. He kept his promise and did not lay a finger on her. He had also taken her to a small lake close to the campsite, where she was allowed to bathe and wash her hair. Of course, Russell watched her the whole time, but it felt so damn good she refused to let that bother her. She had to admit, after the bath, she felt almost 100% better. But, the impending trade which would put her under Merle's control never left her mind. His voice alone frightened her more than she was willing to admit.

Finally, the day came. The sound of whistling could be heard growing louder as Merle, once again, moved closer to the campsite. Her heart started to beat faster, while her chest tightened, but she did her very best not to show an ounce of fear.

Before Merle was even within sight, Russell said, "Git down on yer knees, you know, all nice like, and be quiet, no matter what. You fuck this up for me and you will die a whole hell of a lot worse than that faggot boyfriend of yours did."

She did as she was told and got down on her knees. After her bath, Russell had given her an old button up shirt of his, as well as a pair of jeans. They were so many sizes too large, they ended up looking like clown attire on her, but they were cleaner than what she had been forced to wear since the first attack. Her panties soon became stiff and so soiled with Russell's semen; they were beginning to chafe, as well as the filthy tee shirt that he had forced her to wear since destroying her own top. She was sure it had not been cleaned since the world went to shit. They left her feeling dirty, smelly, and more exposed to the coldness of the nights than the clownish attire would, so she focused on appreciating small details to avoid thinking of how bad it could have been.

Now, there she knelt, in a smelly shirt that looked like it once was white, but was so stained, it was hard to tell for sure. The jeans were being held up by a short piece of rope. In the back of her mind she wished that Merle would take one look at her, and change his mind about the exchange, she felt that she looked that horrid; which she hoped would work in her favor.

Merle came ambling out of the woods and smiled when he locked eyes on the girl.

"That's good, that's real good. You need to get used to knelling, Sugar Tits, cuz yer gonna be on them knees a lot pretty soon." he said as he chuckled at her discomfort.

He turned to Russell and told him, "I ain't about to trade for this here piece of ass sight unseen. I wanna at least see 'er face and her body before I talk some solid trade terms."

Russell walked over to her and pulled to sack up just far enough to that Merle could see how pretty she was. He saw how her hair, mostly black, with a single white or silver streak curled down along side of the left side of her face. He was taken aback a bit by the color of her eyes, they were purple, violet, more precisely. He had never in his life seen eyes that color. This and the odd streak of silver in her hair made her more exotic and appealing to him, while at the same time, made him edgy for a reason he could not put into words.

Russell then unbuttoned the front of the shirt she was wearing, showing her breasts and stomach to the man. He had her stand up for a second, and removed the rope that held up her jeans, letting them fall into a pool at her feet. Merle's eyes widened a bit, and he could actually feel himself begin to salivate at the sight of her. She was beautiful, and there wasn't a mark on her. It was enough to give him a hard on right then and there. He fought the stiffening of his prick as much as he could, but pricks tended to have a mind of their own. He definitely did not want to appear too eager in Russell's eyes.

About 50 yards away Daryl was moving slowing in their direction, after hearing voices, he soon recognized Merle's voice and moved forward even more cautiously. He had not seen his brother in a long time. He had no idea what kind of experiences Merle had been through since the roof top, or if they had warped his mind, which would make a man like Merle more dangerous than he was when Daryl had last seen him.

As he listened he could hear a few words that led him to think they were making a deal of sorts, a trade or bargain.

When he was close enough to hear everything being said, and could finally see the campsite clearly, he hunkered down, watched, and listened.

The other man was redressing a young girl, while Merle looked on eagerly. Then the two men began to barter back and forth, and finally came to terms both were comfortable with. Russell would get 150 strong pain killers, and a nice sized amount of Morphine in exchange for the girl. If Daryl knew his brother, he was fairly sure that he would kill this man before giving him anything, and just take the girl for himself. Daryl looked at the slight figure on her knees between the two men, and felt a small pain in his heart knowing what sort of things Merle would do to her if he got his hands on her. He was already certain he could not let that happen, but did not know yet what he would be able to do to stop it.

Russell and Merle shook hands and Merle said he would return the next day about the same time. He had not brought any of the drugs with him for this trip, nor did he plan to bring any the next day, when he would kill Russell on sight and take the girl. He told Russell it was because he didn't want to risk being robbed in the woods on the way to Russell's campsite, and that he would bring along a few extra thugs the next day for added protection.

Daryl wonder why he didn't just kill the man right now, but was glad to hear he would have a little time to come up with an idea on how to save the girl from the hell he knew Merle would subject her too.

Merle started to move back towards the woods, hesitated as if he heard something, looked around the area with an odd look on his face, then shook his head and moved away.

"Go on and lay down Baby Girl, you gonna need all the rest you can get, I think you are gonna be real busy in the next week or so." Russell said laughing.

He was so proud of how well he had dealt with Merle and the amount of narcotics he would be getting the next day! He was foolish enough to actually feel like he was getting the better deal. Russell had never been much of a ladies' man, but he sure could party. And all those years of partying, had left him missing a great number of brain cells. Most would consider Russell "As dumb as a brick" but he thought he was still pretty sharp and in charge. This had not been the first time he had come across a girl alone or with someone easy to take down like this girl's Faggoty friend. They would be lost in this new hellish world, and see him as some sort of savior! He would keep 'em for a while, then work a trade with a man he crossed paths with, or if he could not find someone to deal with once he was bored with his latest catch, he would just tie 'em to a tree, cut a long gash on both of her arms, avoiding any major arteries, and hope the smell of blood would attract a walker to take care of her for him.

Gaelynn lay down awkwardly, and did her best to cozy up as close to the fire as she could with only her sense of feel to lead her. It warmed her only marginally, but she was afraid to try to get closer, afraid she would end up burned badly. Not only had the day began to come to its close, and the air cooled, but the conversation between Russell and Merle did just as much to chilled her just as the late afternoon air. She just kept telling herself she was strong enough to handle anything any man could dish out. She was a survivor. And just before she fell into as light sleep, she recited the MacManus brother's prayer once more, as sleep overtook her.

Russell broke out a bottle of whisky he has been saving for a special occasion and took several long draws on the bottle in order to get his buzz started quickly. The buzz hit quickly and made him feel warm in his gut. He reached into a bag next to his chair and pulled out a blanket, stirred up the fire a bit, then laid back in his chair to nurse the rest of his bottle. It was not long before Gaelynn could hear his snores begin.

Gaelynn had not allowed herself to succumb completely to the sleep she needed until she heard Russell's snoring start. Then she could relax a little more and felt herself really start to slip into what she hoped would be a dreamless sleep.

Suddenly, she felt a hand clamp gently yet firmly over her mouth from the other side of the bag over her head. Her first thought was that Merle had returned. Then almost as soon as the hand covered her mouth, a voice in her ear said "Don't scream, I ain't gonna hurt ye, understand?"

There was a pause. He could sense her inner struggle and watched as she tried to not only calm herself, but to assess the situation that was suddenly upon her. Daryl thought to himself 'She was a fighter this one', and he could tell she was weighing her choices very carefully. After another moment, she shook her head yes.

The man, whoever he was, used his gentle, quiet words to further calm her and she was amazed when she actually began to feel some of the terror she had been overcome with during this past week begin to ease up bit by bit, which was against everything she knew she should be feeling at that moment. This man was a wild card, his words were strong, yet quiet enough to be soothing, and he was offering to help her. She was unsure what to think… her recent decisions had not been good ones, she was afraid the next bad decision would be the one that left her for dead.

She listened to each question he asked and responded as calmly as she could. She felt, more than heard him slip farther away from her, towards the sound of Russell's snoring. She held her breath.

For the second time in just about a week, she listened to someone's throat being slashed, followed by the sounds of death. The first time, she did not know what it was she heard, but Russell had been very happy to give her the grizzly details about how he had killed her young friend. This time, when she heard the gurgling, choking sounds, she knew what it meant, and part of her was overjoyed.

The man was suddenly right next to her again, and she marveled at how he was able to move about so silently. He bent down to her and said "Russell won't be bothering you ever again, but I think we need to get away from this campsite as fast as possible, so if it's all the same to you, I am just gonna pick you up, and get the hell out of here. I will take care of the gag and restraints as soon as we done put some miles between here and where we're going. That OK with you? "

She really had no choice at this point so she just shook her head yes again.

He then picked her up in his arms, grabbed her pink Hello Kitty backpack that lay close to her as well as the "Speed Racer" bag that had belonged to Tristan, and off they went.

They move quickly through the woods, as the man explained again that he would remove all the restraints as soon as it was safe, he wanted to put a lot of distance between Russell's campsite and the two of them just in case Merle doubled back for some reason.

When Gaelynn heard him call Merle by his name, she stiffened up and starting to struggle against his hold on her. How did he know Merle's name? What did it mean that he knew Merle? Were they working together? Had she made the wrong decision after all?

"Listen, I'll explain everything as soon as I can, but right now, I need you to settle the fuck down so I before I drop yer ass. Listen, to me and listen good, if Merle does decide to double back any time soon, he sure as shit will be able to track us. He is the best tracker I ever seen. Now stop your fucking wiggling cuz if I drop you cuz of you fighting me, I'm gonna think you don't want my help after all and I will leave your ass right here."

She took a deep breath and nodded her head, settled back down and heard him say" You can either trust me, or I can leave you right here. Knowing what kind of things Merle is capable of, that is not what you want me to do right now."

He carried her for what seemed like a long time. Finally, he stopped and set her down in a sitting position on the ground. He pulled off the bag off of her head. She immediately held her head down, with her hair hanging in her face, as if she were hiding from him behind the thick cascade of inky curls. He then pulled out his smaller hunting knife from his boot and quickly cut the ties around her wrists. The rope had chaffed and cut into her, leaving her wrists raw and bleeding.

The man began to speak to her softly, "I'm gonna let you take care of that gag while I go gather some wood and kindling for a fire. You got a choice; you can run off if you want, I won't try to stop you. But if you got any sense, you will stay put, at least until you learn more about what the deal is between me and Merle. When I get the fire going, I'm gonna clean up them wounds and stuff too."

Then he just walked off towards the woods surrounding the clearing where his own campsite set. He felt like he had not talked that much to anyone in a very long time, talking to others, especially females always made him uncomfortable, but it had to be done. She deserved some answers.

She had purposely kept her head down as he cut her loose, and told her his plan. She was afraid to look up at him right away; not because she feared him, but because she was in a bad state and needed to collect herself before confronting this stranger. She had to know for certain that she could look him in the eye without crying or even showing weakness, until that time, she would keep her profile low. She took the gag off and then immediately hugged her knees into her chest in a very defensive position, staring at the ground in front of her. She wanted him to think she was frail and was more frightened than she actually was, if that was even possible.

Daryl headed into the woods to gather what he needed in order to get a good fire going. He felt he had put enough distance between Merle and where they were that a fire would be safe enough. He was just inside the tree line circling the campsite picking up wood and sticks as he moved round the site.

Soon after the man disappeared into the woods, and she felt it was safe enough, she reached for her bag, pulled out several items, stood up, and did changed into her own clothing quickly, as if her life depended on her getting this done and sitting back down. She not only did not want the stranger to see her nude, but she wanted to regain her position on the ground, with her hiding her features until she felt stronger. Changing into her own clean clothes went a long ways towards that end, and she was beginning to regain control. She had felt dirty and powerless wearing the clothes that Russell had made her wear, she needed her own clothing so she would feel a little more herself, before he came back.

Daryl moved slowly around the campsite, just out of sight. He gathered the firewood as he circled the campsite. Suddenly, for some reason he could not comprehend, he looked back at the girl for a second. He had intended to give her some privacy in order to calm herself down; he never intended to spy on her. As he started to look in her direction, he was almost certain she would be gone, having grabbed her backpack and taken off. But there she was, standing in the lowering light of the day, changing into different clothes, glancing around every few seconds, thinking she might catch him watching her. His first instinct was to turn away, a feeling of shame swept over him for invading her privacy, but try as he might, he could not make himself turn away. Something grabbed his attention and he just could not take his eyes off her.

She started her quick change by pulling off the dirty rank shirt that smelled of Russell and sweat, and put on her only bra, a tattered black one that used to make her feel sexy and silly at the same time. She yanked it on, covering her smallish breasts. Most men would consider them young and impressive breasts; to her they were nothing worth writing home about. She never thought of them as anything more than something to attract men who would then hurt her. She turned to pick up her jeans at the exact moment that Daryl impulsively glanced in her direction.

What he saw, what sort of stunned him and caused him to stare at her was a tattoo, down the entire plain of her back, from shoulders to hips, were wings in red ink covering its surface. They looked so real and perfect for a tattoo, even in the dimming light of the day. There was a smaller tat on the lower middle part of her back, the area they called tramp stamp. But he could not tell what it was.

She slid on a clean pair of panties, also black, also showing a great deal of wear and tear. After finally putting on clean undergarments, then came her black jeans and socks. The last garment was a black long sleeved shirt, that she had cut small holes in at the wrist. Because the sleeves were so long, they allowed her to put her thumbs through the holes. Then she quickly sat back down and put on her boots, lacing them up so quickly she skipped a few of the holes. She finally began to relax, now that her body was covered, and she began to unlace the boots and retie them, focusing on her movements. She needed to not think about where she was, what would happen next, of the strange man who had come to her aid in the nick of time.

After watching her put on the rest of her clothing, Daryl was finally able to force himself to look away, he felt ashamed that he had looked for as long as he had. He stood there, holding onto the firewood, and took several deep breaths, willing himself to get control over his reaction to having seen a female's nude form for the first time in so many months, he had lost track on when the last time was. She was way too young for a man his age, even if he was looking to try to hook up with a woman, which was the last thing on his mind since he saw his first Walker. Merle was constantly whining about the lack of tail he was getting, but that was just Merle being Merle. Daryl had never been much of a ladies' man; he had enough trouble just thinking of what to say to one let alone how to woo one into his bed, which had only happened a few times when he reached the right amount of drunkenness. The right amount to be bold enough to try, but not enough to keep him from sealing the deal.

Even on the few occasions he was with a woman, he always felt like he was missing something. Other men he had listened too never seemed to stop talking about, or trying to get laid. To him, if felt only a little better than when he jerked off. He could not understand what the big deal was so he never really made a big deal about it; something Merle never missed a change to tease him about.

Now, he stood there, in the growing darkness, waiting a few more minutes until she had finished tying her boots and his heart had slowed to a closer normal rate. 'What the fuck?' he thought to himself. He was not used to having much of a reaction when it came to women, let alone a girl as young as he suspected is one to be. He now felt ashamed about that, as if he was now some sort of pervert. He shook his head, hoped the blush had left his face and walked back inside the campsite with his arms, as well as his jeans, filled with wood to some degree or another. He was thankful it was getting so dark; she would most likely not even notice the slowly shrinking bulge in his crotch area.

She was sitting there, knees up, arms wrapped protectively around them, staring at the ground in front of her, avoiding eye contact with him.

He followed her example, letting her choose the pace of how things would play out for a while, hoping it would give her some reassurance that he was not going to hurt her and had respect for her needs, so he kept his back to her, working on the fire. It also gave him enough time to completely lose the erection he had surprised himself with.

"You got a name?" he asked.

"Yeah" was her only answer, then a long pause.

"Feel like telling me what it is? Or I could just call you Baby Girl" he said half jokingly. He regretted the joke immediately.

"Gaelynn" was all she said.

"Heh, bet you caught hell in school," he had never heard the name before and due to his close association with his very bigoted brother, he mind focused on the 'Gay' part of her name.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she spat back at him.

"Gay" Lynn, you know….?"

His demeaning comment gave her just the right amount fury to fuel her confidence; she retorted "I find that very offensive" not liking the way this conversation was going. "My best friend was killed by Russell just a week ago, he was gay, and the kindest person I have ever met. If you have a problem with gays, you need to take it somewhere else!" she furiously barked back at him.

"Fucking forget it! I ain't saying another word" he returned, feeling attacked and deserving of every bit of it. But being a Dixon, he could not just let it go. "I help you and you ain't got the decency to cut me some slack." He snarled back at her, in a weak attempt at defending his actions.

This just was not like him at all. He lived most of his life not giving a shit what anyone thought about him, and here he was letting a little girl get to him, making him feel defensive, and ashamed. He felt stung.

There was a long silence. Then she said "What about you?'

"What about me?" he continued with his snarl.

"Name?"

"What do you care?" he replied.

She rolled her eyes and said nothing more. Let him sulk, she didn't care, as long as he kept his distance.

At this point, he finally had the fire going the way he wanted it, he stood, turned and for the first time, he looked at the girl he had rescued one minute, then began trading harsh comments with the next.

At that moment, feeling angry and stronger than she had all week, she finally glanced up at the face of the man who professed trying to help her, while at the same time, offended her, and snapped at her. Their eyes met, locked together and for a moment, neither of them felt the anger, the warmth of the fire, or the chill of the night.

They just stared at each other as the night sounds ticked around them.


	8. Chapter 8 - Revision

I do not own, nor do I profit from anything having to do with "The Walking Dead, be it TV show, or comics. I am writing this for personal reasons only.

In the Nick of Time

Chapter 8 Revision

The next two chapters are very short, to cover both Daryl and Gaelynn's first impression of each other, then we move on. Thanx again for all the followings and reviews, you rock my world!

Daryl

When Daryl finished stoking the fire and finally turned to look at his rescue with his usual 'I ain't got time for this shit' glare, the impact of his what he saw made his heart feel as if it skipped a few beats, and his stomach felt funny all of a sudden. She was nothing like he expected.

What he had expected was a poor terrified girl with a haunted look in her eyes. She would be bruised and bleeding and would look to him for comfort and to keep her safe.

But what he saw was a beautiful face glaring right back at him, with a great deal of defiance and challenge in her eyes. Even though most of the light had run its course for the day, there was enough of it left to show him that her eyes were not blue, or brown, or any other color he had ever seen in person. They were some shade of purple, or violet. He had seen a photograph of Elizabeth Taylor once, from her younger days, and her eyes were the exact same color as the ones that were glaring back at him right now. He thought at the time that Liz was wearing contacts, or the photo had been doctored, no way were they really that color. Considering the environment they were all living in now, he knew the girl's eye color had to be real. They were stunning, and would have almost been little intimidating, if he was the easily intimidated type.

There were no bruises, no blood, except for the wrists he has seen earlier, which were now covered by the sleeves of her shirt. What he saw before him was a face with a youthful beauty, and eyes damning him to hell with her gaze.

She was pale and her hair, black. There was an inch thick strand of white hair running from the roots at the part in her hair, down the length of it to its tip on the left side of her face. That had to be real too, otherwise, the roots would have grown out long ago, according to what little he knew about women's hair color. All he knew was information acquired by the few brainless blondes he took home with him from the bar on a rare occasion for a one night stand. He recalled how they seemed to always have roots darker than the rest of their hair, made them all look as cheap and scanky. That was the only type of female that would give a Dixon the time of day in his hometown.

This girl looked only about 16 or so, but that glare must have taken years of practice to perfect, as his own did. He didn't think anyone had ever been able to lock eyes with him for as long as she was now doing; he ended up being the first to look away, probably for one of the first times in his adult life.

He was having a hard time wrapping his mind around who this girl was, what kind of person she was. He had always been a pretty good judge of character, a very observant man who didn't miss many details in life.

But she was so odd looking, so different than any girl he has ever seen him is life. Which pretty much was spent is the small butt fuck of a little town where nothing ever happened and folks just shriveled up and died without ever knowing what life really had to offer. Nope, he never saw anything like this girl, odd she was, but at the same time, he could not recall ever seeing a girl as pretty as she was.

As he broke away from their starring contest he turned back towards the fire and asked her "You like rabbit?"


	9. Chapter 9 - Revision

I do not own, nor do I profit from anything having to do with "The Walking Dead, be it TV show, or comics. I am writing this for personal reasons only.

In the Nick of Time - Chapter 9

Ok, I confess. I struggled a long time with these two chapters. The last thing I want is for this to end up being about boy meets girl, they hate each other, then they love each other, and blah blah blah. My intent to begin with was to pair these two, but I so do not want it to be typical and predictable. And as the story is writing itself, I am thinking in other directions, unexpected ones. So, I will do my best to keep the surprised coming, K?

Gaelynn

She finally felt in enough control to look up at the man who stood before her, working on the fire. She raised her head slowly just as he was turning around to face her. Suddenly, for some God awful reason, she felt completely sort of insecure, weak and girly all at the same time. This was definitely a new feeling for her, and she knew it was best to keep this all to herself until she could explore it completely, so when in doubt, glare. And since he had actually pissed her off, glare she did.

She had suffered many years of abuse and trauma which taught her to glare and snarl with the best of them. She would rather appear mean and bitchy than weak and girly so she amped up the power of her usual style of glaring a few watts.

Without changing the hard set of her jaw, the small furrow between her eyes, or the obvious sneer on her lips, she studied him.

He was nothing like what she was expecting. When he first spoke to her back at Russell's campsite, his voice had been so soothing and calm. She recalled how quickly she felt her hammering heart begin to slow while listening to his voice. But this man did not match that soothing voice; he looked hard, and strong, as if he had been carved out of a redwood that had stood alone for ages

His chiseled face was strong, rugged and if she allowed herself to admit it, he was sort of handsome. Not GQ handsome, not even Sports Illustrated handsome, he was different.

She had grown up in a dead city, living in the system, where you kept your head down, and eyes to yourself. You rarely bothered to learn each other's name, let alone what they had been through, or if they had dreams or feelings. It was a kill or be killed world where she had lost more battles than she had room for the scars.

Tristan had been the one and only person she had ever loved, but like little brother love, or a favorite puppy love. She had never ever felt anything close to any attraction or interest in a male, and at times wondered if she too were gay, like Tristan. It would certainly make her life easier, never having to allow a man to touch her, kiss her, or even talk to her if she could avoid it. A girlfriend was much less likely to beat the shit out of her as well.

But here this person, a nameless hick, a backwoods country man who had to be at least 50! The one thing that hit her like a gentle punch to the gut was his eyes. They were a color of blue that no flower would ever dare to attempt, no sky would be able to imitate. It was a shade of blue that had no name. They were piercing, intense and glared right back at her.

She had become pretty well versed at spotting another tortured soul when she saw one, and there was something in his eyes that screamed in pain, or fought demons that threatened to break his will. By the look of it, he'd had years to perfect his own defenses. She wanted to look away as soon as their eyes meet, but she didn't dare. That would show weakness, and she was not weak. So she continued to glare right back at him.

She was not as sure about his age as she first thought, only that he seemed a lot older than she was, now that she was creeping up on her 18th birthday. He probably was not 50, most likely closer to 40? She was never a good judge when it came to age, mostly because she so rarely really looked at anyone. She avoided eye contact at all cost back in the world before this one had been taken over. Better to avoid contact of any kind, and when you couldn't, glare!

She sat there, glaring and trying to study him without his knowing she was doing so. While his back had still been turned she had noticed his clothes were tattered and a little dirty. He wore a large

Bowie knife on his belt, and it looked like a smaller version poked out of the top of his boot. He wasn't very tall, just a half a head or so taller than she was. He definitely stayed in good shape; his arms were muscular and toned. There was something about them that almost made her want to reach over and touch his on his bicep, right where the muscle rounded and then curved down a little before it rounded back up to his shoulder. She had no idea why she felt this urge to touch the skin covering his biceps, nor could she figure out why they were so intriguing. The thought was so stupid and pointless. Why the fuck would she ever willingly touch a man? Normally she found them all gross, and scary to one degree or another. Yet…as he moved around while working on the fire, they alternated between bunching up and rippling in the glow of that fire….she found it mesmerizing.

Now they were face to face, glare to glare, until he finally looked away and she felt immediate relief. She was so afraid she would be the first to back down, but, hells no, she won this round.

She took a quick look around at the meager campsite. There was the fire ring, a small one man tent, and pretty much, nothing else. He seemed to be a simple man, with the need for few creature comforts. Then she saw it, and sucked in her breath, as she tended to do when she was suddenly excited. Leaning up against the tent was a crossbow! She had wanted one ever since she and Tristan had watched the Disney animated version of Robin Hood. She loved that handsome little fox that ran around with a bow and quiver full of arrows. She so wanted to be like him.

As she began to grow drowsy by the fire, he turned slightly back in her direction and without looking at her he asked "You like rabbit?"


	10. Chapter 10 - Revision

I do not own, nor do I profit from anything having to do with "The Walking Dead, be it TV show, or comics. I am writing this for personal reasons only.

In the Nick of Time

Chapter 10

_From in the shadowShe calls_

_And in the shadowShe finds a way_

_And in the shadowShe crawls_

_Clutching her faded photograph_

_My image under her thumb_

_Yes with a message for my heart_

_She's been everybody else's girl_

_Maybe one day she'll be her own_

_Everybody else's girl_

_Maybe one day she'll be her own_

_Girl by Tori Amos_

Daryl picked up a leather bag and hauled out a large rabbit he'd killed earlier that morning. After placing the rabbit on the bag,

he walked over to his tent and took out 3 metal rods. Two formed

a Y shape, and were about 3 feet tall, with the Y at the very top, branching out about 5 inches on both sides. The third rod was almost 4 feet long with a right angle at one end that was around 5 inches long as well. He forced the two Y shaped rods into the ground on opposite sides of the fire.

He then picked up the rabbit, took it further away from the fire

so that Gaelynn would not be able to witness the skinning and dressing part, he figured it would probably be disturbing to a girl who had been through all she had been through with Russell. He had no idea the depths of pain and abuse she had experienced in her short lifetime.

Once the rabbit was ready to be cooked, he forced the carcass

onto the straight end of the 3rd rod and pushed it to the middle

of its length. He put the rod over the fire, setting it down on the two Y shapes. The right angle at the end of that rod was for turning the meat as it cooked, so it cooked evenly.

Gaelynn, though disgusted at first at the thought of eating a

rabbit, was sort of impressed by the simplicity of the cooking apparatuses and how quickly Daryl was able to prepare and begin cooking their dinner. After a short time the aroma alone was enough to chase away any remaining reservations.

"How long will it take for that to cook?" She asked, trying to keep her voice flat, without any emotion.

"Be a little while, he was a big'n for a hare, so bout an hour or

so, I guess. Maybe you should get yerself some rest while it's cooking." Daryl answered.

"Oh no, you are not getting off that easy. You have some explaining to do while we wait." She shot back this time

allowing some impatience to be heard in her voice.

"First of all, you need to tell me where you know that Merle

person from? He definitely sounded like he hung out in your neighborhood, with that redneck accent of his!"

Daryl did not respond right away, he was trying to figure out

how best to explain it all without giving her the wrong idea,

but 'Hell' he thought to himself, 'females are always taking

things the wrong way', from what he knew from his rare and irregular experiences with them. Women made him feel so

nervous and stupid; they had so much fucking power over

men, mostly right between their legs. He knew of more than

a few men who ended up really fucked over by a woman. He thought it was best to stay as far away from them as he could;

only making contact when his own needs grew too strong for

his hand to satisfy, even if it turned out to only be slightly more satisfying. Knowing in advance how this was probably going

to go, he just plunged forward with his story.

"Reason I know Merle is he is my older brother. I ain't seen

him for months and from what I saw by the way he's acting earlier today, I ain't planning to hunt him down for no family reunion

any time soon."

Before he could say anything else, Gaelynn, with wide eyed

shock, said "I knew it! You're not some 'kind stranger 'who just happened to be in the right place at the right time; you are part

of this whole thing, aren't you? I bet you plan to either fuck me yourself as soon as you get a chance, or you're going to hand

me over to Merle yourself, save him all those drugs he planned

to pay for me." She was almost shaking with anger by the time

she was finished with her accusations.

Daryl just lowered his head a little, it stung to hear someone

accuse him of something so against his nature, the rape part. His ma taught him to respect women, and he had never purposely

hurt a woman in his life.

He started out quietly but soon his voice began to develop into

an angry growl," Now you just wait a fucking minute," he

began, and was soon snarling her. "I ain't nothing like my

brother! Well, not the way you think, he was a lot older than me, was raised by my pa, who was meaner than a snake when he was drunk, which was most of the time. Merle weren't around much when my ma was raising me, and she taught that I was supposed

to be respectful to women. I saw how my own pa smacked her around whenever he felt like it, and how much it hurt her, and it killed me not being big enough at the time to do anything about

it. I ain't ever raised my hand to a woman, and I definitely have never taken what weren't freely offered!" he was almost

shouting by this time and more pissed off than he expected

to be. So as a last jab at her, he finished with "Besides, you

ain't my type! I don't want nothing to do with a kid barely out

of 'er training bra, who ain't got no idea how to rekkenize a pig from a man who just wanted to help ya!" he finished feeling a

little drained and emotional. 'Damn females, getting a man all worked up before they know anything about what's really goin' on!' he thought to himself, not knowing why he was letting her

get to him like this.

Gaelynn was a little taken aback by how angry he became and immediately started to rethink who this man was, and what his intentions were. She was not ready to trust him, far from it, but maybe she would listen to more of what he had to say before drawing any further conclusions. From her past experiences, all men did was look for a chance to get laid, with or with a girls consent, especially now when pretty women were not only a

rare commodity, but the chances of one being attracted to a

man once he did find her was pretty slim. She felt a tiny bit

sorry for him, even though he was sort of handsome, his hick ways, and redneck accent was most likely a big turn off to any woman who went beyond a high school diploma level in her education. She imagined that, if he was as respectful as he said

he was, it had to have been a good while since he had been with

a woman. She had no right to completely prejudge him; he did, after all, save her from the next horrible chapter in her painful,

loveless life now that her Tristan was gone.

He was surprised at how defensive he was acting; normally

he didn't give a rat's ass what anyone thought about him. And

he could not remember the last time he had talked to anyone

about his personal life. What was it with this girl? She was not much more than a kid and here he was letting down a little of

his defenses and sharing parts of his life he had not spoken

about with any of others in the group he was currently out

hunting for food for. With them, he found it easy to keep his defenses up and it was those defenses that kept him separated

from the rest of the fucking world.

Even though Gaelynn felt several different emotions during

this discussion, she knew she still could not allow him to see

any weakness in her. She continued to speak with nothing but annoyance in her tone.

"Ha! Not your type? Oh darling, I am not any man's type. I can imagine your type though. Let me guess, bleach blonde, with

ugly roots, too much make up, with either large boobs or a bigass! Men are all alike as far as I am concerned. You are all just hungry animals waiting for their next prey to step into one of

their traps." she finished and was horrified that tears began to

well up in her eyes. 'This was not happening' she thought, 'No

one has made me tear up in ages, not without physically harming me, what the fuck?'

Now, to Daryl's surprise, she had tears in her eyes. She tried

so hard to fight them but some came anyways.

At this point, the exhaustion, the trauma of the past week, the

lack of food all conspired to break her down. On the tip of her tongue was the long sad shameful story of her own life, something she had not shared with anyone but Tristan in years. The words were so close to spilling out; she stood up and walked further

away from the fire in order to collect herself.

She could not tell this near stranger about how her step-father started molesting her when she was only 10 years old. He got

her pregnant by the time she was 13, and that her morning sickness was the only reason anyone noticed there was something wrong. The nurse at her school took notice and called Child Services, and she was finally set free of that hell hole of a home

of hers. They took her to a group home, and then she was placed

in a series of foster homes that were barely better than her home had been. She kept running away and taken back to the shelter where she was bullied and beaten on a regular basis by the bigger girls. The last foster home had not been nearly as bad and it was there that she met Tristan, the champion of her life, the reason to stay in one place for a while.

Daryl had expected her to be defensive, but was shocked at that

he had made her cry; he figured she would just get more pissed

off, but hurting her was never his intention.

He felt responsible for something, for the first time in ages and

felt he needed to man up and apologize, something a Dixon rarely, if ever, did.

He walked over to where she was standing, with her back to the fire, and said gently "Look, I didn't mean to be such an asshole back there, guess maybe this whole dead world and trying to just stay alive was getting to me more than I realized. I swear to you,

I ain't gonna hurt you. And I won't let anyone else hurt you either. Tomorrow morning, I'm gonna take you to a really nice farm where there are good people who will help to protect you, and give ya some time to heal up."

He paused to see if she would speak, but after a few moments of silence, he continued, "If you wanna take off on your own, I ain't gonna stop you, you got the right to do whatever you think is best for you, but you gotta know there is a good chance that things will get a whole lot worse out there for a girl on her own. So come on,

I kinda need you to try to believe and trust me, even though you don't know nothing much about me. I swear on my ma's grave, I ain't gonna lay a hand on you."

Gaelynn felt drained and allowed a few more tears to fall before she took a deep breath, which helped to settle her pounding heart once more, then started to feel close to normal again. She looked

at Daryl, square in the eyes, and said "Give me your biggest hunting knife. If you so much as move too quickly in my direction, I swear I will kill you. And if you do as you say you plan to do, and take me to this farm, and the people there do turn out to be nice and harmless I will return it then. But until that time, I need

to feel like I can protect myself; it's the only way I will stay here."

Daryl didn't say a word; he just pulled the knife from his belt, wiped it on his jeans to make sure no blood or tissue remained from the rabbit, and, turning the blade towards himself, gently handed to her.

Once she had the knife, Gaelynn felt a little better, but only a

little. Daryl was a strong looking man, and all he would need

is for her to be distracted for a second and he would have complete control over her.

Daryl, remembering something, asked "If ya hate men so much, why were you traveling with a guy? How did he get you to trust him? And why the hell didn't he protect you from Russell?"

"How did you know there was someone else" she asked, amazed that he knew about Tristan.

"Ya had to see the other backpack when you was changing clothes, when I picked up the pink one; I grabbed the other one too. Speed Racer? Had to belong to a guy, maybe not a very mature one, but it looked like a guy thing." he answered,

'God!' she thought, this guy is a lot more perceptive than I

gave him credit for being. I am going to need to watch myself

and stay on my toes around him, no telling what he would be able to discover about me based on something she said. She had so many secrets, and was ready to share a damn thing with anyone yet.

Tristan, she had not thought about him for several hours, but by mentioning his name so soon after she had lost some of her control, it was just enough to bring a few tears back to her eyes. She was so damned pissed off at herself, for not being stronger,

for letting this hillbilly see her weep! She blinked back these new tears quickly, got more control over herself and began to talk a little about Tristan, the only person she had ever truly loved in her whole life.

Was there really something different about this guy? Half the time he pissed her off so much, and then the other half of the time, she wanted more than anything to believe him, trust him. She wanted so much to have someone in her life that understood, like Tristan did, but she knew she was more than likely subconsciously wanting to fill the void left by Tristan's death. Letting anyone in too quickly was dangerous. She realized this and took precautions to keep on standing her ground. She whipped away any remaining tears, lifted her chin and walked back to sit next to the fire.

Once Daryl had joined her and had checked on the cooking rabbit, she allowed herself to talk a little about Tristan, she felt like somehow she was honoring his memory by sharing what a truly remarkable friend he had turned out to be.

"Tristan was only 13 years old when we first met, and on the small side. When Russell killed him, he was only 15 and still small for his age. There was no way he could have taken Russell, and I do not blame him for anything that Russell did to me. I trusted him, and came to love him so much because he was never a threat of any kind to me. He was gay. And he was the sweetest, kindest, most giving person I had ever met. His life echoed mine in many ways. He grew up being bullied and beaten on a regular basis at home and at school. His father completely disowned him when he found out his son was gay, even told Tristan that as far as he was concerned, he was dead to the family. This broke his heart so much, he decided to leave home. I couldn't let him go on his own,

the world was just beginning to break bad, and I knew if I didn't go with him, I would never see him again. I would have done anything to keep him in my life. I had never felt that way for anyone, and I knew that if I lost him, I would never have that again."

"So we packed up my old Mazda with as much of our things as we could fit into that tiny car, and we left town. We traveled that way for several months, by the time we ran out of money, all hell had broken loose, and we just started siphoning gas when we needed it, living off any food we could find once what we packed in the car ran out. Then about a week and a half ago, the car died, it was hopeless. We had to leave it and most of our belongings behind. We walked through the woods for about 3 days; we had no food and very little water when we came upon Russell. We were not in a position to be all that picky and we were just desperate enough to buy into whatever Russell was dishing out. That was my mistake, I was the oldest and I should have been more careful and taken better care of him. I will never forgive myself for getting him killed like that. I have been having nightmares almost every night since."

She noticed that when she had said that Tristan was gay, Daryl made a small face, barely noticeable but still, it displayed his dislike of gays.

"I should have known you would have a problem with Tristan being gay. I know you have certain biases, just from some of the things you've said, so I imagine a hick like you would be the type of person to jump Tristan given the chance, and beat him

within inches of his life and laugh the entire time you were

kicking his face in, right?"

Daryl really did not want to get into another argument with her, it had already been a long day and he was trying hard to

get her to calm down and trust him, so he thought carefully before he replied.

"I used to have a lot of hate in me, hated niggers, chinks, spics, anyone I guess who was not white or weren't like me. I guess that included faggots, and didn't really matter what color they were. But now, I got some of them folks in the group I've been traveling with and I guess, I ain't got as much hate in me now. There ain't but two kinds of folks now, thems that are alive and the walkers. I guess I can't afford to be as picky, like you said, now days. "

She looked at him skeptically, but didn't try to keep the discussion going. She was so tired, and hungry. And she was trying to figure out how to get any sleep while keeping her eye out for any unwanted behavior from the man sitting across the fire from her.

Suddenly Daryl stood up, making her almost jump out of her skin and she grabbed the knife and pointed it at him.

"Shit, I completely forgot all about your wrists! You got em all covered up and with the cooking and arguing I forgot all about it."

He walked to his tent and pulled out a small box. This was his first aid kit that he carried whenever he went out hunting. He had rarely needed it, but it was a habit to bring it anyways.

He asked her if he could have the shirt she had taken off, and after looking for the cleanest places, he tore the shirt into a few long strips. He picked up a metal cup that sat next to the fire and poured some water into it, then set it closer to the fire for it to heat up some.

"I am just gonna have a look at them wrists, ok? You ain't gonna stab me for that are you?"

She shook her head but warily watched his every move.

He gently pulled her thumb out of the hole in the shirt so he

could push the sleeve up far enough to get a good look at the

wounds. Any bleeding had stopped a while back and was

now crusted around each wrist. He picked up the cup of water

and tested to see how hot it was, just warm, about the right temperature that he was shooting for. But, trying to appear

thoughtful, he asked her to check it as well and let him know

if it was too hot. She dipped a finger into the cup and said it

was fine. Daryl then took one of the strips of the shirt and put

the entire strip into the cup. Once it had absorbed all but a tiny

bit of the water, he pulled it out and gently wrapped the strip around one of her wounded wrists. The he repeated the

process, more water, heated it near the fire, and then let her

test it. He wrapped the second strip around the other wrist.

He turned his attention back to the first wrist he had started

with and, again, as gently as he could, he pressed the make

shift bandage against her wound. It stung a little but all Gaelynn did was flinch a tiny bit. He then slowly unwrapped the strip,

and once he could see the wound again, he used the cleaner

parts of a strip to dab at the stubborn crusts of blood until he

had the entire wound clean. He did the same with the other

wrist. Once both wrists were clean, or as clean as he could get them under these conditions, he opened the box and took out

some sterile gauze, a tube of ointment, and some sterile

bandages.

He squeezed a little of the contents of the tube onto his fingers

and lightly rubbed it into the wounds. This did hurt a lot more than what he did with the strips and she bit down on her lower lip

but did not make a sound. While he was this close to her, Daryl took a few glances at her face without her knowing. "Damn she was pretty, but such a bitch! "He thought. Then again, he

supposed she had every right to be an even bigger bitch than

she had been thus far. He was looking at her mouth, noticing how full and nicely shaped they were when she bit down on the bottom lip in pain. It was all he could do not to groan, and could feel himself stiffen a little. He fought this with all his strength; he

was an idiot to the thinking and feeling such things after all

she had probably been through with Russell. He hated himself

a little at that moment.

He finished up quickly without looking at her face again. Then

he moved away, back to the other side of the fire, where

he felt himself start to settle back down. He sighed quietly

with relief.

By then the rabbit was ready and they ate in silence. Once

they both had had their fill, he told her she could use the tent

and he would crash here next to the fire.

Again, he got the doubtful glare from her for his efforts, and wondered if he would ever get her to trust him?

She stood; made a show of picking up the knife he had given

her, and walked to the tent. "There anything in here you need before I get in? You'd best get it now, because if a hand comes

so much as an inch across the threshold of this thing, you will

be pulling back a numb, I swear."

He walked over, didn't like how close he had to be near her to

get what he needed from the tent, but she refused to move. He

took one of the blankets and left her the rest, a sleeping bag, and another blanket.

"It's all yours mame" he said as he took a small bow in front

of her. "Look, if it starts raining, I coming in there with

you, ok? I ain't normally bothered by the weather, but I been nursing a sore throat for a few days and really don't want

it to get worse. It's not like I can go the clinic and get me a shot

or anything. You need to make sure you control that knife, and I will make sure I have made my intentions clear before I come

into the tent, if it rains now, only then. We clear on that?"

After all he had done for her so far; she felt she at least owed

him a rain free night, should it start. But, she would have

the knife and was a light sleeper, so she thought maybe it would

be alright. So she just nodded and climbed in to try and get some much needed rest.


	11. Chapter 11 - Revision

I do not own, nor do I profit from anything having to do with "The Walking Dead, be it TV show, or comics. I am writing this for personal reasons only.

Huge thanx go out to each and every person who has started following this story, or commented, you all rock! This is a prettylong chapter, and covers a lot of ground, enjoy!

In the Nick of Time

Chapter 11 Revised

Gaelynn woke to the sounds of someone moving around outside

the small tent. She poked her head out to discover Daryl working

hard to erase every trace that there had been a campsite in this area. 'Maybe he was telling the truth about not wanting Merle to be able

to track them.' she thought to herself. He had also kept his work

as far as 'Keeping his hands to himself' went as well. If he had

wanted to hurt her, he had his chance when she passed out from complete exhaustion. She would try to cut him some slack as far

as her bitching went, but she would keep her guard up.

She crawled out and said "Morning." Not 'Good morning' just

morning. She was not ready to be BFF's with this redneck hick

just yet and wanted him to know as much.

He turned and looked at her for a moment, gave her a curt nod

and went back to work.

"Ain't nothin to eat for breakfast if that is what's on your mind.

Best that we just get a start on the walk back to the farm as soon

as possible. Merle will be figuring out that his plans ain't working

out like he'd hoped. He will be able to track us this far. "Daryl

warned.

"But I got my own way to a make sure he can't follow us any

further" he added.

Once he had everything of his campsite packed and ready, he turned

to her as she was picking up the two backpacks that were her responsibility, when Daryl asked "Can ya fit everything in one of

them?"

She dropped down to one knee and opened her pack, pressed down

as a hard as she could to push everything further towards the bottom, then picked up Tristan's pack and began to pull all the contents out.

She could not help but get a few tears in her eyes as she did this; he

had so few items to his name, this on top of everything else made

her loss more painful. But luckily, everything he owned fit down

inside her pack.

"I need ya to go stand over there, and stay still, don't be tramplin' around and shit, just stand in one place and wait fer me to finish up."

He instructed her almost harshly, as if she were a child that needed

have everything spelled out to her. She was slightly offended but

then again, he was the one that had to sleep on the ground with only

one blanket, so she cut him the slack she thought he needed.

"This is how we are gonna work this, you're gonna have ta climb

on my back and hold on tight, I ain't gonna be able to hold onto you,

my gear and this branch all the same time." He turned towards her

and he was right, his hands were full. He had put his backpack on backwards so that it covered his chest; his crossbow was hanging towards his right side rather than on his back as it normally did,

and in his hands he held a large tree branch.

As she stood where he told her to stand, he took the large branch and swept the whole campsite clean of tracks, his and hers. When he was finished, he moved backwards towards where she stood, covering the tracks he made as he approached her.

"Alright now, you need to hop up on my back and hang the fuck on"

he instructed.

She put the single pack on her back and hoisted herself onto his

back, wrapping her arms and legs around him as tightly as she dared,

not wanting to choke him. It was not easy to wrap her legs around

his waist with his backpack and crossbow in the way but she was not about to complain. She was amazed he thought he could carry her

for very long with all the weight of their gear on his back as well as having to force the large branch from side to side in order to obscure

his own steps as they set off, walking backwards, in the direction of what she guessed was the farm. She figured he might last about

half an hour at the most.

She was surprised it was almost two hours before he said he was

going to take a break. He was so much stronger and had so much

more stamina then she originally thought. This was not a man she wanted to ever piss off.

She eased herself off his back, taking it slowly, knowing he had

to be somewhat sore by now. He then took off his pack and collapsed

to the ground, groaning only slightly.

He pulled out his last bottle of water, took a long pull off of it then handed it to her saying, "Finish it if ye need too, we ain't too far

from the farm now".

She had a sudden thought and said "Can I ask you something?"

"You can ask all ya want, don't mean I gotta answer though" he

replied in return.

She hoped he was going to be less of a prick after they had arrived

at this farm he told her about and got to sleep in his own bed, he

sure was being a complete grouch since that morning. What she

didn't know was that at some point in the night, Daryl had woken

up, found he was having a hard time getting back to sleep, so he

decided to check on her, see if she was sleeping ok, he told himself.

He quietly moved closer to the little tent, she was laying in it feet

first so her head was at the end where the tent flaps were. There

was a great deal of moonlight that night allowing him to see her

features clearly.

She lay on her side, one arm tucked under her head, the other laying

out in front of her, her fingers clutching the blanket. She made a soft moaning sound, then a tiny whimper; she was having a nightmare it seemed. He wanted to wake her, to rescue her from the demons she faced in her sleep but that would mean she would know he had gotten that close to her as she slept. He could do nothing as he watched her struggle to escape whatever pursued her as she tried to sleep. After

only a few minutes her struggle ended and he could see her body,

and facial features relax. She was so damned pretty when she wasn't glaring or frowning at him. He watched her only for a few more moments before returning to his bed roll feeling like a creep for

looking at her when she was aware of it. That was so unlike him.

A few of the women back at the farm were sort of attractive, he

guessed, but he had never really given any of them a second thought. Not that they would have given him the time of day if he had.

What was it about this one that kept her in his thoughts? Fuck,

he needed his sleep, tomorrow was going to be hard enough on

him. He tried again to shake her from his mind, but that only led

to him remembering watching her while she dressed, that red set

of wings on her lean back, her thin but still shapely legs, as she

hurried to put on her clothes.

For whatever fucking reason, this girl got him stirred up in a way

no other female had and he didn't like it at all. He told himself it

was her fault; she had to be doing something to cause him to react

this way. She was start to pay for it tomorrow, in the morning, he

would start treating her like she was nothing, just a problem he

found he had to solve and once they reached the farm, she was

on her own. He would have nothing to do with her from then on.

He didn't need the distraction or the blue balls that came with

thinking about her too much.

Had she known all this, she would have realized why he was in

such a mood, and most likely it would have put her in just a bad

of a mood as well. The thought of a man looking at her or thinking

about her like that had always made her stomach queasy.

Daryl looked up quickly from his thoughts and began to stand

slowly, holding out his hand, indicating for her to stay still and

quiet. He stood that way for a minute or two, before Gaelynn started

to hear what had him all riled up. There was movement off in the

bushes to their right, the direction he was now facing with her

behind him. A few more tense minutes went by before they watched

as one of the dead broke clear of the bushes and began to shambling towards them. Daryl made a hand motion again, telling her to stay

down, while he picked up his bow from where he had set it down

when they stopped for their break. He didn't make a sound as he

pulled one of the bolts free and loaded the bow. He lifted it, hesitated only a second and let the arrow fly. It hit the walker square, middle

of the forehead, just above his eyes. Daryl stood there listening to

see if there were more from where that one came from, he was not taking any chances. When he finally relaxed he held out his hand

and helped her back to her feet. Without saying a word he loaded himself up again with his pack and bow, and turned his back so she could climb on again.

"Wait" she said, "Do you think we have come far enough so that

even if Merle did come looking for us, he wouldn't know which direction to go in after the campsite? I mean, do you really need

to carry me all the way to the farm?"

He stood there, quietly thinking about what she had said, what

he knew about Merle, and the chances he would come across tracks

this far from the camp, and decided she was right.

"Fine" was all he said, as he adjusted his pack and slung his bow

across his shoulder and started walking.

Gaelynn began to follow him, getting lost in her own thoughts.

When she saw that thing coming towards them, a 'Walker' according

to Daryl, it was one of first ones she had seen in a good while. She

and Tristan kept moving so they rarely were in one place long enough for any of them to gather. She was only a little frightened by this one. She could tell Daryl had had a lot of experience with these creatures

by the way he carried himself in the woods, and how quickly he

sensed the danger.

She had watched as he pulled the sting back on the bow in order to

load the arrow, and noticed how the muscles in his arms bunched, flexed, and rounded with the exertion. Here there was a walker

coming towards them and she was distracted by the movement

of a man's arm muscles. She passed blamed it on the heat; it was

filling her head with silly distractions, nothing more.

Though once again she was impressed at how quickly he reacted

when he sensed danger, how easy it was for him to kill something,

even if it was one of those dead things, yet how gentlemanly he was when he held out his hand to offer to help her up. He was a complex man, this much she was sure of.

They continue walking for hours without speaking, just walking.

It was getting close to dusk when he pointed off into the distance

and said, "There it is".

She could see this beautiful farm way ahead of them, with plowed

fields, a stable of horses, and some cows. She could almost make

out a few people walking around. There was a farm after all!

It was like something out of a dream to her. It looked so normal

and sane. She had not known normal for most of her life, and as

for sane, there were times she questioned herself on that topic.

She could not help but finally smile, a real honest to God smile,

and Daryl was glad he didn't miss it. It was amazingly beautiful

and made her entire face transform from the frowning, worried,

scornful person he had originally met, to a lovely young girl,

woman? He still had no idea how old she was, but he thought that

based on her behavior, this girl had not had a very long childhood.

Her smile brought a childhood grace back to her features, and even though he would not mention it, or even let on he had see it, it

warmed his heart in a way he had not felt in a long time, if ever.

He had never been the warm and fuzzy type, and was not about to

turn soft now, on the other hand, this feeling was OK; she had been through hell and deserved something to smile about.

He dropped all his burdens' and sat down on a fallen tree with a

small groan of pain. He told her they would most likely stay past

dark, just to make sure Merle was nowhere near.

Gaelynn stood starring off at the farm in the distance, thinking

that maybe, just maybe her life had finally taken a turn for the better.

It was about fucking time! She wondered what the people were

like. How many were there? Were there any girls her age? That

thought was immediately followed by the memory of all the other

girls she had met in her life following "Chapter Step-Father", and

knew that regardless of how close in age they were, she never felt comfortable around them. They either wanted to kick her ass for

some reason, or they seemed childlike and silly, and that they had nothing in common except the fact they could not go home. She had

been forced to leave silly behind years ago. Even though she would

soon be 18 years old, she felt like she was closer to 50. Even though

this farm held the possibility of a better life, she knew it would take

a long time for her to free herself from her demons and the shame

she lived with each day.

She noticed Daryl motioning to her to sit down and rest so she

sat on the grass in front of him. Since they had to be here for

awhile, she might as well prepare herself for 'the farm'.

"So, how many people live on this farm?" she asked, now eager

to learn as much as she could.

"Damn, not really sure, there was about 10 that I was traveling

with, then there's about 5 or 6 living in the house when we got

there."

"Tell me what you can about each of them, please?"

He could see she was a little nervous as well as excited about

meeting everyone, he could understand that, him more than most.

"Let's see, there's Rick, he was a cop before the shit hit the fan,

he is sort of the leader of our group, him more than anyone else.

He has a wife down there, named Lori and kid called Carl. There's another ex-cop, used to be Rick's partner, but them two are as

different as night 'n day. Other one's an asshole. I'd stir clear of him

if I's you. There's a few more women, one has a little girl, a china

man, old dude, the nig… black guy. Don't recall everyone's name.

Up until recently, not many of them wanted much to do with me.

Can't really blame them, I acted like an ass most of the time in the beginning, especially when Merle was still around. Him and me

stayed to ourselves mostly, but Merle was always trying to get rile

things up, making comments, hitting on the women, he was a prick

most of the time.

As for them in the house, all I know by name is Hershel and Maggie. Hershel is some sort of doctor, and only reason I know Maggie is cuz she gets on with the China dude, and hangs out with us a lot. But

there is maybe another boy and girl, bout your age I guess, and maybe

a few others, not really sure. I ain't spent much time inside, never felt too welcomed."

"That's a lot of new people to meet, I doubt I will learn many names either." she sort of giggled, if was an awkward sound, coming from

her. Like she wasn't used to giggling. It really was more of a nervous titter than anything.

"Why did Merle leave the camp?" she asked.

Daryl sort of sighed a little and shook his head, "That's kind of a

long story, not sure now's the time for that, maybe later. That is if

you still want to keep company with me after you meet all the nice people, that is." Daryl said this to her but too himself, he knew he

would be staying as far away from her as possible. More than likely

she would never know what had happened to Merle, unless one of

the others told her the story, which he figured would make Merle

look like he deserved a lot worse than just being left on that roof.

She looked at him a minute while he seemed lost in thought, and felt

that pull again, the pull that broken people have between each other.

She sensed that he had had almost as hard a life as she did, before

the shit hit. He almost sounded a little lonely, but it was probably

a lack of really giving a shit that so many of those he'd been traveling with could care less that he spent most of his time trying to keep them

all alive by giving them fresh kills to eat.

This made her think of something she had wanted to ask him,

"You guys are living on a farm, and from here, it looks like it

has enough food to sustain a lot of people, why were you out hunting?"

"I's bored, not much to do around here. Not for someone like me anyways" he replied.

"Things are different now, not so much tension in the air all the time, folks are more relaxed since we found the farm. But the folks that

live there, I don't think they want us there much longer. Hershel's big

on bible stuff and is hard to talk too, most of us is happy to leave

dealing with him to Rick, he can talk to anyone, calm em down, be rational and all."

"You mentioned a few might be close to my age" she had try for

more information about them regardless of the slim chance she

would get along with anyone, she still wanted to know.

"Well, that would mean I'd have ta know how old you are. I put you

at about 16 or so, so maybe that younger boy and girl from the house might be close,"

"16? Fuck that! For your information, I'll be 18 in just a few months!" She shot back at him, stung and irritated that he thought she was such

a young teen".

"Well, that makes a big difference then, don't it?" he remarked sarcastically, "ya might get on well enough with the china man

and maybe Maggie, their sort of a couple now I reckon. They might

let you tag along from time to time, as long as you don't get the

way of them sneaking around to fuck, Hershel ain't real happy about

his daughter boning a near stranger. Seems there ain't a lot of time

for courting and shit."

They had been sitting there long enough for her ass to start hurting

from hard ground, so she was relieved when he stood up, stretched

a little and announced that he was pretty sure the they were safe to

move on down to the house and their campsite, which was set up

near the house, but not too close.

"Before we go, I need to ask you a big favor. I know I owe you a

hell of a lot by now, and don't really have the right to ask, but could

you not mention how you found me? I don't want to start off being

seen as the poor little victim. I would rather keep that part of my life

to myself for now, so please, just say you stumbled across me while

you were hunting or something?" Gaelynn asked.

He looked her in the eyes, those odd, amazing eyes of hers, and

could tell how important this was too her. She did not want to be

viewed as a wounded victim by everyone right off the bat, he

respected that. He just shook his head yes, and they started towards

the farm.

**Ok, followers and reviewers, if you would, keep the comments coming, let me know if the pace is too slow, if I spend too much time on mundane details, because I write this for you, as well as a test of how well I can compose a story that keeps you guys interested and wanting more, Thanx!**


	12. Chapter 12 - Revision

I do not own, nor do I profit from anything having to do with "The Walking Dead, be it TV show, or comics. I am writing this for personal reasons only.

The song lyrics below may be familiar to some, they used this song for the ending credits on one of Romero's " of the Dead" films, the one where they take a boat to an island and it's infested too! The song is by Jim Carroll, the subject of the movie "Basketball Diaries" Not sure if it belongs here at this point in the story, but I love the song. So without further ado…

Chapter 12 - Revised

"_Teddy sniffing glue, he was 12 years old_

_Fell from the roof on East Two-nine_

_Cathy was 11 when she pulled the plug_

_On 26 reds and a bottle of wine_

_Bobby got leukemia, 14 years old_

_He looked like 65 when he died_

_He was a friend of mine_

_Those are people who died, died_

_They were all my friends, and they died_

_G-berg and Georgie let their gimmicks go rotten_

_So they died of hepatitis in upper Manhattan_

_Sly in Vietnam took a bullet in the head_

_Bobby OD'd on Drano on the night that he was wed_

_They were two more friends of mine_

_Two more friends that died_

_Those are people who died, died_

_They were all my friends, and they died_

_Mary took a dry dive from a hotel room_

_Bobby hung himself from a cell in the tombs_

_Judy jumped in front of a subway train_

_Eddie got slit in the jugular vein_

_And Eddie, I miss you more than all the others, __And I salute you brother_

_Those are people who died, died_

_They were all my friends, and they died_

_Herbie pushed Tony from the Boys' Club roof_

_Tony thought that his rage was just some goof_

_But Herbie sure gave Tony some bitchen proof"_

_Hey," Herbie said, "Tony, can you fly?"But Tony couldn't fly, Tony died_

_Those are people who died, died_

_They were all my friends, and they died_

_Brian got busted on a narco rap_

_He beat the rap by rattin' on some bikers_

_He said, "Hey, I know it's dangerous, but it sure beats Riker's_

_"But the next day he got offed by the very same bikers_

_Those are people who died, died_

_Jim Carroll "People Who Died"_

It was growing darker as the two of them approached the farm; a warning shout was heard from whoever was standing watch.

"Who's out there? I can barely see you, and if you do not identify yourself, I will be forced to shoot!" it was Andrea.

"Just me, don't point that fucking gun at me" Daryl answered back. "I got someone with me, so just settle your ass down, gonna make a bad impression, ya hear?"

"I hear." Answered the woman standing on top of what looked like an old RV; they were not close enough yet for Gaelynn to see anything very well.

As they drew closer to the area outside the main house, she could see a campsite set up, with a number of tents, a few cars and the big RV. Those that had been gathered around the fire pit stood as they watched Daryl and the young female stranger approach.

That was the general first impression that the group had when they looked at this new stranger for the first time. She was quite different that most of the people they had come across in their travels thus far. The first thing they noticed was that she was dressed all in black, from head to toe, with long sleeves, during the hottest part of the Georgia summer. Her hair, also dark or black, it was hard to tell with the light or lack of it at that time of day, hung down in her face, obscuring most of her facial features. This was a habit Gaelynn seemed to always resort to when meeting new people. The white streak in her hair stood out and almost glowed in the dimming of the days light. Almost everyone in the group had come from small southern towns, only Andrea has spent time in a big city and to her, this girl was not nearly as stranger as the others thought she was.

"This here is Gaelynn, found 'er out in the woods while I was hunting. She didn't have any people so I brung her here. Y'all can all introduce yourselves without my help; I ain't any no good at that kind of thing so say yer hellos and shit like that." And with that, Daryl ducked into a tent and left her alone with the strangers.

The 'hellos' and 'how do you do's' went rather quickly as Gaelynn answered any questions in one word curt answers. She was not much better at this than Daryl claimed to be. As quickly as she could she said "Nice meeting you guys." and ducked into the same tent she had seen Daryl go into.

There were raised eyebrows and a little muttering amongst the group, and then everyone went back to cleaning up from their meal and began to get ready for bed. Bedtime came early, they were on a farm and the days started early, usually with an annoying announcement from the resident rooster just as the sky began to lighten at dawn.

"What the fuck?" Daryl said as she appeared in the opening of his tent. He was sitting on his cot, shoeless and shirtless, cleaning his bow. "You know how to knock? I could have been nekkid in here girl, ain't you got no manners?"

"Naked? Thank God for small favors" she retorted back. "And thanks for leaving me all alone with a bunch of strangers, that worked out really well." She thought better not to berate him any longer about that, and lowered her voice and quietly asked "Can I sleep in here?"

"What? You gotta be kidding me. You should 'a worked that out with one of them while you's gett'n acquainted. I saved your ass; I fed you half my dinner, gave up my tent for the night, and brought ya somewhere safe. I done all I'm gonna do, you ain't my problem anymore. So go find someone to help you figure out where you can sleep, it ain't gonna be in here!" he practically snarled the last part at her.

She was taken aback at how angry he seemed to be, what has she done to piss him off so much? She knew she had been a bit of a bitch, but she tried not to complain too much and kept most of her thoughts to herself. This attitude was way out of proportion for any bitching she had done. Maybe she had cut him too much slack on the way from the campsite to here. Now he seemed to be showing his true colors and they were not pretty, not at all.

She glared at him, with as much animosity as she could summon and just said "Fuck you!" turned around and walked out of his tent.

Great, now what was she supposed to do? She stood right outside Daryl's tent, wondering how much of their conversation the others had heard. She thought for a moment, tucked her head back into the slit in his tent and said "Can I at least have a blanket and maybe a pillow?" she asked, noticing he had a few to spare folded in one corner.

"Sure, take all you need." He said, and as she picked up one blanket and a pillow, he finished with "those belong to Merle anyways and I guess he ain't gonna need 'em tonight."

She hesitated for a moment, then lifted her chin, and walked out of the tent, blanket, pillow and all.

She sat under a tree; where it was darker, and watched everyone finish up the cleaning. Soon everyone was ducking into their own tents or the RV for the night. It seems no one had heard the heated discussion she had just had with Daryl about sleeping arrangements. No seemed to care either. This she was used too. She had always felt sort of invisible, most of her life. The only attention she ever had gotten had been the unwanted kind. That was until she had meet Tristan. Now she was alone again, invisible. Part of her felt like crying, but that was mean showing weakness, so in place of weeping, she stood, walked closer to the fire that had been dampened for the night, but still put off a tiny bit of warmth, laid the blanket on the ground, poked at the fire for a few moments until she had a very small blaze going. She lay down and pulled the blanket around her small body. She was too tired to even remove her boots; she laid a good while just watching the flames, begging sleep to come and take her.

When sleep ignored her as well, she took a longer look around at the campsite. She noticed an older man sitting on top of the RV with a rifle, which sort of made her feel a little safer. But even so, every snap of the fire, each screech of a barn owl, and every other small noise that came with the darkness, made her heart jump a bit making it even harder to doze off. After about 30 minutes of listening to the night sounds, she heard someone begin to snore. It had to be one of the men if she could hear it all the way out to where she lay, but it was not loud enough to be annoying. She focused on the snore, steady and soft, and let that lull her to sleep.

About two hours later, Dale watched as Daryl came out of his tent; saw the girl laying next to the fire, and walk over to her. He knelt down next to her for a minute, then picked her up and carried her back to his tent. Moments later he reemerged with his sleeping bag and lay down next to the fire where the girl had been resting. Dale smiled to himself, Daryl probably told her to get lost earlier, but then felt bad about not making sure she had a place to sleep. That young man had been changing so much with each day since Merle went missing. It was obvious that the boy missed his brother; you could see sadness in his eyes from time to time when he thought no one was watching. But Dale rarely missed anything that went on within the group. Daryl was becoming one of them. This was a good thing, because his role up till then had been so important to them all, but no one had really showed how much they relied on him. If anyone tried to thank him, or compliment him in any way, his usual response was a small glare or a half wounded look of confusion, as if he had no idea what they saw that encouraged them to say something nice to him. It was obvious as well that this young man was not accustomed to compliments or kindness. He was definitely uncomfortable with anything other than taking orders or following through with what was asked of him. Dale had even seen him flinch when Carol had attempted to wipe off some dirt from his cheeks. Dale was fairly certain that a childhood with Merle had been a dark and scary place for the lad.

He was not certain about the girl, she avoided eye contact the entire time everyone was introducing themselves. He had noticed her eyes seemed to be a lighter shade of the same blue that Daryl's eyes were, and he thought he glimpsed some of the same shadows of pain or fear in her eyes, similar to Daryl's, but it was too soon to tell. Most likely Dale was the only one who saw more than shyness in the girl's posture and body language. He had seen a lot in his time. It was the same look he had seen from time to time not only in Daryl's eyes, but also in Carol's. Each of them had what Dale felt was their own tiny versions of hell buried behind their eyes, and now his intuition said that this young girl had most likely carried in herself a worse hell then either of older members of their group. She was young, and behind the hair, lovely. Two character traits that would likely work more against someone in this new world, as it had worked in their favor in the time before the dead began to eat the living. All three, if he was correct about the girl, would carry most of their scars on the inside, protectively; too damaged to allow anyone to get close, or make a connection. He would make a point of reaching out to this new young lady, and hope she would see him as someone who cared and understood rather as some old nasty man who only wanted to befriend her for one reason.

Dale had heard a few of the others state that they felt her abrupt dismissal of the introductions were a sign of smugness or being snobby, they just didn't understand. Maybe he would have a talk with some of them in the morning. He would ask them to tread lightly with this girl, she was most likely broken and pushing her for personal information would most likely result in her retreating further into herself. He glanced once more at Daryl's sleeping figure next to the fire, smiled again then turned his attention to the night.

The next morning Gaelynn woke up not knowing how she had ended up back in Daryl's tent but was glad to be there; especially since he currently wasn't. She put on her boots, started to change into a cleaner top from her backpack, changed her mind and picked up Tristan's. She pulled out a black shirt, it would have been almost impossible to find a different color piece of clothing in either of their bags; almost everything they had owned was black except for the occasional panties, boxers or socks. This particular shirt brought back memories of a time when she and Trist had made it to New Orleans the night day of Halloween. They found out that one of their favorite bands, The Misfits, was playing that night at The House of Blues!

They began to panhandle for change hard core. Since either sex found them both to be attractive, they had to endure a good many offers to make money faster, but just one look of sheer revulsion from either of them made the offending person cough up extra change and scurry away, feeling embarrassed by their own ugliness. They were able to raise enough for two tickets and enjoyed the show with a hoard of beautiful people dressed in amazing attire, or in great costumes. She saw an Edward Scissorhands that looked just like Johnny Depp did in the movie, and a Jack Skellington that was perfect. The night was amazing. Trist even stole the shirt she now held in her hands. By now, it had faded but you could clearly make out the image of the Crimson Ghost, the iconic logo of the Misfits. She pulled the shirt over her head, ran her fingers through her hair and headed out to the middle of the campsite where the fire pit was. She was hungry, so she would have to suck it up and congregate with the group if she hoped to be fed.

She approached the group who were still lingering over breakfast, which appeared to be made up of mostly fruit. She had her hands stuck way down in the back pockets of her jeans, her hair hung a little in her face. Before she could say a word, the old man who sat atop the RV the night before walked over and handed her a plate, laden with fruits and a couple of slices of home baked bread.

"Good morning! I hope you slept well. I saved you a plate. That bread doesn't last long around here. Enjoy!" Dale said to her.

She glanced up quickly and quietly uttered "Thank you".

Dale's eyes widened when he was able to catch a quick look at the new girl's eyes. They were not a light blue as he first thought; her eyes were a beautiful shade of violet. In all his years, he had never seen eyes more stunning. Before he could stop himself he blurted out "My Lord child, you have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen!" He saw how she suddenly blushed and unconsciously shook her head a little to cause more hair to fall across her features.

"I apologize, I do, and I can see I have made you uncomfortable, which was not my intention, please go and enjoy your breakfast, again, I am deeply sorry." Dale stammered. It was not often Dale found himself at a loss for words, but this certainly did not go as he had planned. Rather than making the girl feel more comfortable, he had done just the opposite and ended up drawing more attention to her from those around him who overheard his comment concerning her eyes. Some were now starring in her direction. Dale felt like a foolish old man, a fumbling imbecile. He would have to find a way to make it up to her when she would allow it.

Gaelynn quickly took her plate over to a tree, a little ways away from the main group. She wanted to disappear into the ground until everyone close by stopped starring at her, but since that was not possible, she sat down under the tree and just kept her head down for awhile, until felt it might be safe to look up, unnoticed. At the moment, no one was looking in her direction, so she used the time to size up some of the others while she nibbled slowly at her breakfast. They all seemed to be getting along fairly well.

She could not recall any of their names, she had been too nervous to take mental notes. There was a blonde, the same one who had been standing guard when she and Daryl arrived last evening. She was standing beside a muscular man, most likely one of the ex-cops, and from the way they were gesturing with their hands, as if aiming a pistol, she imagined they were discussing guns, killing or target practice. The man might be the one that Daryl had warned her about. Until she was sure, she would be going out of her way to get to know any of the men any better, not that she cared to in the first place. If she wanted these new people to accept her, and allow her to stay and be part of their group, she would have to try to make an effort to learn who each person was while trying to recall what Daryl had to say about the ones he had made comments about.

Sitting at a small table were two women, one with long dark hair, the other had very short salt and pepper colored hair. With them were two children, a boy with a pale completion and dark hair. The other was a girl with dirty blonde hair and freckles. Both of them were as cute a buttons. It looked as if they were doing some school work. This seemed odd at first to Gaelynn, who would need to know how to subtract or compose a proper sentence in this new ugly world? But then, she thought, no, this was a mothers attempt to keep a part of the old world in their day to day lives. They were trying to give the kids some fundamental foundations of the old world to hold onto, and she admired the women for what they were trying to do for their children.

Not far off to her left was the 'china man' as Daryl referred to him, and he was talking to a girl, with brown hair, just down to her shoulders. She didn't recall Daryl mentioning a dark haired girl so she must be the farmer's daughter that the china man was sleeping with. They made a nice looking couple and Gaelynn hoped that eventually, they could be friends.

She heard a screen door slam, looked over at the house. On the porch stood two men, a tall older man with white hair, and a lean built man wearing a sheriffs' uniform. Ex-cop number 2. They spoke for a few more minutes, and then the younger man headed towards the campsite. He stopped at the table where the women and children were sitting, kissed the top of the head of the woman with the long dark hair, and then ruffled the hair of the little boy. 'That must be Rick and his family' she thought. She had no idea who the other woman was. At least now she knew which one was Shane, and knew who she should avoid if she chose to take Daryl's advice. Last night, she took everything he had said as gospel; glad to have some advance knowledge about some of the group members. But after his behavior once they had arrived, she was not nearly as sure she should be listening to anyone whose attitude could change so drastically for no apparent reason. As usual, she was on her own; she would make her own judgment calls when it came to her fellow campers.

She heard burly ex-cop, now Shane in her eyes, yell out "Anyone going to the shooting range get your gear and meet me at the cars in 5."

Several people headed off behind him, leaving only the older man who had given her the plate she was now eating from, the china man and the table of scholars. She saw that 'china man' was now alone and was looking in her direction. She quickly diverted her eyes, hoping he would not come over. It was too late, he was heading her way.

"Hi' he said a shyly, "I'm Glenn, how was your first night?"

"OK I guess. I got some sleep and food, a big improvement from a couple of days ago." she replied, then scolded herself for sounding whinny, and neglected.

"Look, I know how hard it is to be surrounded by people you don't know, so if there is anything I can do to help, just say the word." Glenn offered. Then he too noticed her eyes, and before he could say any of the usual crap people tended to say about them, she cut him off.

"OK, I know, my eyes are a different color than what most people are used too, can we not make a big deal about it, I don't mean to sound like a bitch but Dude, I have heard all before, so many times…. Let's just skip that part, deal?" she pleaded, not wanting to feel like she was under a microscope again. She felt like that every time someone brought up the subject of her eyes, like she was a bug, some new species, to be studied further. She hated that feeling.

Glenn turned a slight shade of red and forced himself to stop staring, and said "I'm sorry, I totally get it, no problem.

"If you really want to help, you could tell me a little more about everyone, so I don't feel like such a stranger. That would really help me feel a lot less nervous and stuff." She asked shyly. She was a little surprised at herself for having the nerve to first, shut him down before she had to listen to all the usual crap about her eyes, and follow that by actually ask for some help with something. She was more anti-confrontation in the best of times, let alone during these dark, harrowing days. And she rarely asked a total stranger for help, other than the occasional pan handling she and Tristan has done when they ran out of funds.

"Sure!" returned Glenn right away, he was glad to be moving on from the smack down he had gotten over her eyes. "Where do you wanna start?"

"OK, who is the blonde that had been talking guns with the muscular ex-cop?"

"That would be Andrea and Shane is probably the ex-cop she was talking too. Andrea has had a rough time ever since we were attacked at our campsite not long ago; she lost her sister that night. But she seems to be doing a lot better. She is turning out to really be a great shot during pistol practice. And Shane, don't tell him I told you so, but that dude freaks me out sometimes. He seems to be more or less pissed off most of the time, and ever since we arrived here at the farm, he has been acting extra weird. No idea what's bugging him, but he seems to be edgier that he was before, if that's possible. He is not someone I would want to piss off, ever."

"Good to know" Gaelynn said in return.

"Then you have Rick, Lori and their son Carl. That family has been through hell. Rick was shot, right before the world went to shit, and ended up in a coma. The hospital told Lori he would be air lifted out of there, but it didn't happen. So everyone thought he was dead. Lori and Carl left their hometown with Shane. Then by sheer luck, I ran into Rick during one of our supply runs and brought him back to the group. Man, you should have seen the look on his, Lori's and Carl's faces when they found each other, it was really a Hallmark moment, you know?"

"Wow, that's pretty much miracle material." she murmured, "If you believe in that sort of thing. Not sure I do, like why would God let this dead people eating the living thing happen? Maybe it's the equivalent of Noah's Ark, Act II, and the world is not going to end in fire, but by this contagion. Who knows?" she said as she contemplated why this all was happening. "The boy, has he been ill lately? He looks so pale compared to the little girl."

"Yeah, like father like son," Glenn said with a slight chuckle,

"Carl was shot about a week or so ago, a hunting accident, that's how we ended up here in on the farm in the first place. A man who lived here was hunting deer and took a shot at a buck; only the buckshot went straight through the deer and hit Carl. He said he didn't even see the kid until both of them hit the ground. He's gonna be ok, and it's good to see him up and getting his strength back."

"Who is Hershel, and which ones were living here when you guys got here?" she asked.

"Hershel is the older dude with the white hair, he owns all this, and is a veterinarian. We were so lucky that it was his son-in-law that shot Carl, cuz we didn't have anyone with any medical knowledge before we got here."

"So he's the Farmer's Daughter's daddy?" she could not help but ask attempt to make a small joke at Glenn's expense. She was trying hard to keep things casual, but was surprised at just how red his face turned.

He looked around shyly, blushing and said "I guess you can say that. But I don't know from one day to the next if she really likes me or hates me. She runs really hot and cold and it's so confusing. I have no idea where I stand…..and I bet you could really care less about my love life or the lack of one anyways" he felt silly for starting to spill his guts about his feelings for Maggie to this girl who just arrived, but his confusion over the subject kept the matter in the forefront of his mind at all times.

"Think about it, Glenn, it is Glenn, right? Has she lost anyone recently? Like maybe a family member or a friend? She could be just as confused as you are. She might want to get close to someone, but at the same time, she afraid too, you let someone in; you run the risk of losing them too. Right?" again surprising herself at how much she really wanted to connect with someone from the group, especially someone who was most likely close to her age.

"Now that you mention it that makes a lot of sense. I guess I need to just give her some space and see if she thinks I am worth the effort or not. Cuz I really like her a lot."

"Well, good luck with that whole thing, chances of meeting another girl like her, who is pretty, close to your age and not already married, are pretty slim. Those of us that have managed to stay alive are so few and far between, a single guy or girl will be really lucky to find someone to care about." Not liking this subject matter, she steered the conversation back in the right direction with "So, getting back to the people here, how about the old guy that sits on top of the RV almost all the time?"

"That's Dale. He's, I guess the 'wise sage' of the group. He kind of freaks me out too; he is so perceptive it's scary. It seems almost like he can read your mind sometimes. He always has pretty good advice and is really patient with all the drama that goes on around here."

"He gave me this plate of food this morning; I was a little surprised. Not used to folks who are kind and shit, it's been a good while since I've been around a group of people who are nice, I mean."

"Ok, how about the woman with the little girl? I think that child is so cute, with the freckles across her nose, it's like she belongs on a beach, somewhere, having fun rather than living from day to day, seeing God knows what, Daryl told me there were kids in your group but didn't know many of your names. Did he just join your group recently?"

"No, Daryl's been with us almost from the beginning, if he doesn't know everyone's name, it's because he could care less about learning them. He and his brother Merle were not the nicest guys I'd ever met, especially Merle. He was big, strong and mean. He hated anyone who was not white, if you can believe that. Man he was hard to deal with, always using racial slurs, saying really disrespectful things to the women, refusing to follow any rules that were set up to try to keep us all safe, and stuff like that.

We lost him right before we left the place we had been hold up before heading to the CDC. He came along on a trip to the city to get supplies, got high on who knows what, and just started doing things that put us all in danger. The city was really scary, with the streets crawling with Geeks. Rick ended up handcuffing him to a pipe on the roof of the building we were in, and before we could get out of there, T-Dog, the black man that's part of the group, was about to unlock the cuffs but ended up dropping the key down a drain pipe. We went back the next day but he had cut off his hand and escaped. We tried to find him, Daryl was real upset about what had happened, so we tried to help him as much as we could. Then some other crap happened and we just never saw Merle again. I think Daryl is convinced Merle is still out there somewhere, and that maybe he will find him someday. Merle was all he had.

Daryl was not as annoying as Merle at the beginning but he was pretty mean, and I sure as shit didn't want to piss him off. He could be calm one second then trying to swing an ax at your head the next, dude is moody as hell."

Gaelynn was beginning to get a better picture of who Daryl was and why he was the way he was. She still didn't want to have much to do with him, and was still pissed about the way he just abandoned her as soon as they arrived, but then again, how could he introduce her when he had hardly gotten to know these people himself?

Glenn continued with his review of each person in the group as well as those in the farm house.

"You asked about the woman with the little girl? That would be Carol and her daughter Sophia. They are both pretty quiet most of the time, kind of timid. She lost someone the same night Andrea lost her sister. Carol's husband was killed by Geeks, but in all honesty, it could not have happened to a more deserving guy. Ed was a real asshole, never did anything for the good of the group, and we would see fresh bruises on Carol from time to time.

Then there is T-Dog, I mentioned him a few minutes ago, he's a pretty cool guy, he put up with a lot of abuse from Merle. I don't know if I could have taken it as well as he did. All Merle ever did to me was calling me a 'chink' or made stupid comments about rice and shit… Daryl calls me China man, but my ancestors are from Korea. I told him that once, but he didn't care, still calls me China man, but not as often.

In the house, other than Hershel and Maggie, there is Jimmy, a boy who is about 17. He is not related to the family but Hershel took him in when he lost all his family. Beth is a cute little blonde and is about 16, I think her and Jimmy have something going on, but with Hershel around, you can't really show any affection around here with one of his daughters or he will chew you a new one! Guess I can't blame him for that. If things work out with me and Maggie, I really don't want to find out how he will react but what can I do?

The other woman in the house is Hershel's oldest daughter, Patricia. Her husband was the one who accidently shot Carl and he died trying to get some medical equipment and stuff so that Hershel could do surgery on Carl to save his life. So I guess the books are even in that respect, sort of."

Glenn stopped speaking and was lost in thought trying to figure out if he had left anyone out.

"Carol's husband hit her and stuff?" Gaelynn asked again. "I hate men who abuse women or children. If I had my way, every single one of them would have died first when this all started." she said with a little more venom than she intended, She could see Glenn raise an eyebrow at her. But he was too polite to ask.

"I think I pretty much covered everyone, we have lost few people along the way. So this is what is left of us."

"Do you think Daryl would be a different person if Merle wasn't his brother? It sounds like Merle was more aggressive than he was, and maybe growing up with a brother like that would make just about anyone."

"In the past few months since Merle's disappeared, he has sort of calmed down some, started getting more involved with others, and what the group needs. He is one hell of a hunter. We would have starved many times over if it were not for him always going out with his crossbow so we could have fresh meat on a regular basis. Don't tell him this, but I think a lot of us were getting pretty tired of eating squirrel meat. It's better than nothing but after awhile, you really start hope for a deer or some rabbit." he said with a small laugh. Even though he laughed, he still looked around quickly to make sure Daryl was not within listening range. "I won't lie to you; he scared the hell out of me in the beginning. He, same as Merle, was always making racist remarks and I just knew one day, he was going to kick my ass. I don't really worry about that anymore. Without Merle's influence, he has been easier to talk too, to deal with, and he is one hell of a shot with that bow of his, he can cap a Walker with one clean, silent shot, every time! It's amazing how he does that."

"Mind if I ask how old you are?" asked Glenn.

"I will be 18 soon, why do you ask?" she replied.

"For one thing, you don't seem like a 17 year old. You sort of seem older somehow. Don't get me wrong, I mean it as a complement. You seem really smart, like you've spent some time in college or something."

"Heh! No, no college for me. I guess it might have something to do with all the reading I have done. I used to have my nose buried in a book 24/7, especially when I was having trouble sleeping. It didn't matter what the book was about, I just liked reading and being by myself. I guess I picked up a little something from each book, I don't have a photographic memory, but damned close to it."

The real reason she started reading, or appeared to be reading was, when she had a book in front of her, people spoke to her less. After faking it for a while, she actually began to enjoy reading, and soon loved it. She missed reading more than almost anything else. She would have to find a way to get some books, maybe some medical journals, so that she could learn how to treat someone if they were injured or bitten by a spider, whatever. Glenn had said that before this place, they didn't have anyone who had medical experience. That would give her a place in the group, a way to be needed and respected. She would have to work up the nerve to ask that Hershel person if he had any medical books in the house. Surely he would, and reading those would put that wall back up that she used to rely on, then she could work on her trust issues and eventually let her guard down a little, try to fit in, something that never came naturally to her.

This revision took longer than I had planned, I did a spell check but you know how that goes. This chapter turned out to be one of the longest so far, so forgive me if there are grammar errors, etc.

Thank you for hanging around for this thing to create itself, the end is in sight!


	13. Chapter 13 - Revision

I do not own, nor do I profit from anything having to do with "The Walking Dead, be it TV show, or comics. I am writing this for personal reasons only.

In the Nick of Time

Chapter 13- Revised

_And fighting time so hard I pray._

_That this moment lasts forever._

_And will the world stay standing still at least for me,_

_Through my eyes stare into me._

_I bear my heart for all to see._

_With my face turned to the sun there ever standing still._

_And fighting time so much I ask._

_I will this morning last forever._

_Though seasons change and things come to pass_

_Remain inside of me._

_And fighting time so hard I pray_

_That this moment lasts forever_

_And will the world stay standing still at least for me._

_"Standing" VNV Nation_

Chapter 13- Revision

The first few days following her being led out of the woods and dumped into the lap of this group were spent partly in a constant state of anxiety as well as actually enjoying her time spent learning bits and pieces of everyone's history. She learned where most of them had come from, what they did before the preverbal shit hit the fan, who they had lost, and how they ended up becoming a part of this band of survivors. This process was going slowly, just the way she wanted it too. Not one of them seemed to be trying too hard to learn who she was, what her history was, why she had been found alone in the woods. That alone helped her to relax and try to learn the rhythms of the possible new family she now had.

She rarely saw Daryl; he kept to himself and barely looked in her direction when he was around. It was as if he alone cared nothing about who she was, and was purposely avoiding her. She didn't understand why, but she was, in a way, grateful for his absence. She had not liked the same emotions he had stirred up in her back at his tiny campsite.

On the fourth day since she had come to the farm, she was sitting under what she now thought of as "her reading tree" with her nose deep in a medical book about treating injuries and various bites. The treating bite part seemed ironic now, because in this book, a bite was pretty much something that could be cared for and healed. But in this new world, a bite could mean the death, and resurrection of someone you cared about.

The day was quiet and lazy; a slight early autumn breeze cooled down the temperature and put everyone in higher spirits than the previous dog days of summer had.

Out of nowhere, she heard a warning shout of "Walker!" come from Andrea, who was currently atop the RV and on watch. She watched as Rick tired to prevent the others from running in the direction she was pointing, as he yelled "Hershel wants to deal with any Walkers!", no one listened to him so he grabbed an ax and took off in the same direction. Then a shot rang out.

Gaelynn cringed at the sound, the first gunfire she had heard in a very long time, and to her, it meant the day that started out so peaceful and lazy had come to an end. Something was wrong, very wrong and it frightened her. She didn't know what to do, so she just stood up, watched and waited.

Soon she could see the men walking slowly back towards the camp, they were supporting someone between two of them, a man, and he appeared to be unconscious. As they drew closer, she realized it was Daryl they were carrying. He was bloodied, looked pale, and lifeless. Her heart clinched into a tight fist. 'He's dead,' she thought to herself, her now fist sized heart broke. She tried and failed to stop the tears that were forming in her eyes, ready to spill. 'He's dead and I didn't get a chance to really thank him for saving my life. We spent all the time we were together sizing each other up and trading verbal jabs at each other.' she felt a pain the likes of a which had only ever come once, after Tristan was killed.

This was so hard to understand to her. She had known Trist for several years, they never fought, and she loved him dearly. Why did the pain of his death feel close to what she was feeling at the sight of Daryl's lifeless body?

When they were within shouting range, Rich shouted "Get Hershel, now!"

This had to mean Daryl wasn't dead, or not dead yet. She felt the fist in her chest begin to unclench and ran towards them, asking if she could do anything? What had happened? Was he going to die? All of which she knew the answer too, except for would he die. She didn't want to think about that. She told herself 'when he is OK, she would make sure she told him how grateful she was that he saved her life'.

He was taken into the house, and it was over an hour before anyone thought to tell her what had happened or let her know if he was going to be ok. They were not used to her being amongst them and she spent most of her time on the peripheral of the group. It was Glenn who finally noticed her off by herself with a very worried look on her face. He headed in her direction feeling bad that no one had spoken to her since they had brought Daryl in.

"Hey, I am so sorry! I know you have been waiting to hear something. Daryl is gonna be fine. It seems he had taken one of the horses out to do some hunting. I guess he was bored because there's plenty of food. But apparently a snake spooked the horse and it threw him at a bad time. He was walking the horse along the ridge of a steep hill that lead down to a small stream, and when he fell off the horse, he also went down that hill. Not sure how it happened but one of his own arrows ended up stuck through his side! Can you believe that? Anyways, Hershel fixed him up and is having him stay in the house a day or two to watch him for infections. But he is going to be fine. Maybe a little pissed off than usual, but physically, he will be fine."

"You're sure of that? He is going to be ok?" she wanted to be sure.

"Yeah, he'll be fine. I would stay out of his way for a few days just in case he wants to take it out on someone, but that's about the worst of it."

Glenn assured her, then noticed Maggie standing on the porch and headed off.

Gaelynn waited until that evening to try and see him. She wanted to follow through with her earlier promise to herself, to let him know how much she appreciated everything he had done for her. She let herself into quiet house and made her way upstairs, to the room Glenn had told her Daryl would be resting in for the next few days. She opened the door as quietly as she could, not wanting to wake him in the event he was asleep.

Daryl was lying on the bed with his back to her. She could see a bandage around his head but the other injury was not yet visible. She could see, however, a map of scars across his back. She felt a physical gut reaction to seeing them, a small but sharp pain in the middle of her midsection. She had always had a visceral reaction to someone else's pain. She could not image what had caused so many small scars; and she doubted he would tell her. In fact, she was pretty certain he would be royally pissed if he knew she had seen them.

She felt anxious and took another deep breath, amazed at how difficult this was turning out to be. She had never dealt with anyone like Daryl, who was as confusing as he was complicated. She walked around to the other side of the bed so that she could see his face, checking to see if he was awake or sleeping. When he finally noticed her, all he said was "What the fuck do you want?" as he pulled the blanket covering his lower body up higher, so all she could now see was his head.

"I just wanted to see if you were ok, or if you needed anything?" she said softly.

"What?" he scoffed, "If I ain't, what are you gonna do? I say I want a six pack you gonna make one magically appear? Why the fuck would you think you could do anything for me? Just go on, git out of here and leave me in peace!" he growled at her. She quickly backed around to the other side of the bed, intending to make a hasty retreat. Before she could get out the door, a stupid thing popped into her head, and when stupid pops in like that, it wants to be heard.

She took an even bigger deep breath and said, "Look you sorry bastard, it's not my fault you fell off a horse, not my fault you fe1l down a hill, and definitely not my fault you got hurt! I never stick my nose into other people's business, now I remember why. I won't make that mistake again. It's not worth the fucking abuse!" By the time she finished, she had tears in her eyes, so she added quickly, lest he get the idea she was hurt by his scorn, "And I am not crying because of anything you said, I just cry when I get super pissed off, I'm a girl, sue me!" Then she walked out and slamming the door behind her.

Glenn was waiting outside the door and was stunned by the way she had left Daryl's room.

"What happened? What the hell did he say to make you so mad? You look really upset. Was it that bad?" he said.

"Who the fuck cares what that hick white trailer trash said?" the last thing she wanted at that moment was someone feeling sorry for her, she could do that well enough all on her own. Daryl was so fucking mean, and she had not experienced that side of him, not like everyone else. She was about as pissed off as she could be, or had been in a very long time. What gives him the right to chew me out? None of his shitty day was my fault, none of it! She just walked away leaving Glenn even more confused, but she didn't want to be around people at that moment. She took off down the stairs and out the door as fast as she could.

She ducked into the small tent that was provided for her before anyone could see her and question her about the tears. She also wanted to avoid anyone asking how he was doing, at that moment she was libel to say she hoped he died for all she cared, the idiotic redneck bastard.

She lay down, and after a long time, she dozed off.

Suddenly, she was back in the room he had been lying in, and she was wiping his brow with a cool cloth. His eyes were closed so she was able to do this without being self-conscious about him watching her with those intense eyes of his. His face still had dirt on it, and she was trying to clean it off. After a few more minutes of wiping, his face was clean.

She slowly pulled the blanket down to his waist, and started to wipe off his chest and stomach. She could see a bandage on his right side, a small trace of blood had floated to the top layer. This gave her another of those small stabbing pains in her stomach. She thought maybe they were sympathy pains, although she had never had them before.

She worked steadily until she had cleaned all the blood and dirt from his upper torso. She then turned her attention to his left arm. Now, she thought to herself, 'I am treading in dangerous territory.' She had already admonished herself for admiring the way his arms looked, firm, strong but not too muscular. She hated it when men bulked up to a size that was not earned by everyday hard work. And now, here she was stroking his with the wet cloth in her hand. As she worked her way from his hand to his bicep, she heard herself release a small sigh. As if he heard her, he opened his eyes, those amazingly beautiful eyes, and looked up at her.

"Sorry about the way I acted earlier, I was a total ass. Think you can forgive me? The old man gave me some of Merle's pain killers. They always mellowed him out, but for some reason, whenever I have had to take any kind of narcotics, it makes me edgy and irritated."

She didn't say anything right away, she had been pretty pissed off, but the anger started melting away as she looked into his eyes. She didn't trust herself to speak so she just shrugged her shoulders. She was not ready to forgive him just yet. So she went back to cleaning his upper arm and shoulder.

"That feels nice. Never had anyone take care of me like this, it sort of feels wrong, especially after the way I treated you."

She continued to say nothing, and moved to the other arm. She dipped the cloth into the water, then gently rubbing it on his forearm, then up further to that place that caught her attention that night next to the fire, the night he had saved her. That smooth rounded area where his bicep bulged out a bit, and rounded back down slightly, then back up to his shoulder. The curve right there was almost mesmerizing to her for some crazy reason.

She had never allowed herself to be attracted to a man, too look long enough to see something attractive. Nor has she ever found any man's body arousing, but she was beginning to understand why others were always falling in and out of love, or jumping into bed with each other. It had been a mystery to her in the past, which made sense after all she had endured at the hands of men.

When she began to clean that area she was so intrigued with, she heard him quietly release a sigh of his own. Was he enjoying this? She could have sworn he had just said it didn't feel right. She would not look him in the eye again; she knew that would be a bad idea. But when she turned to dip the cloth into the water again, she glanced quickly at the blanket that covered him from the waist down. Either she was imaging things, or this man was getting aroused by a sponge bath. Her eyes immediately darted away, and she prayed she was not blushing, yet she would feel her cheeks grow warm.

He reached up and used the tip of his finger to turn her head in his direction and said "I wanna look at them purple eyes of yours. I ain't ever seen eyes prettier than yours". He started to try to raise himself higher, closer to her face, but cringed back in pain. So he put his hand behind her neck, and gently pulled her towards him, as if he were about to kiss her.

'This cannot be happening!' she thought. 'What the hell is wrong with me? Push him away, stand up, do something!' She urged herself silently.

She felt helpless; she couldn't pull away or push him from her, his mouth moved closer and closer to hers. Suddenly it occurred to her that regardless of all the things that have been done to her, forced on her, she had never actually been kissed. What an odd thing that was, to have been taken by force a number of times, yet she had never been on a date, never been kissed, or touched gently. These thoughts caused her great sadness.

Just as his mouth was about to touch hers, she heard someone close by say "Are you fucking kidding me?"

It was Maggie, and just as quickly as she found herself back in Daryl's room, she found herself in her tent. Her heart was pounding and a light layer of sweat covered her. She had been dreaming… 'Oh thank God!' she thought, but at the same time, she was just a tiny bit disappointed.

'Why? Why should I be disappointed? The asshole yelled at me and kicked me out of his room. Fuck him!' This was her escape mechanism kicking in again, preventing her from feeling too much, or letting anyone get too close.

Now that she had woken up fully and was aware of her surrounds again, she could hear Glenn and Maggie arguing. It had to do with something he knew about, but she didn't want him to tell anyone else. She had too much on her mind to worry about those two love/hate birds, so she put her boots on and went for a walk. She had to chase these weird thoughts from her mind. She was not used to having ideas like these invade her mind and she had to find a way to make them go away.

She was walking down a dirt road that ran along one of the pastures, when she heard someone approaching from behind her. When she looked back, she saw it was the one named Shane, the one both Daryl and Glenn had warned her about. He caught up to her and said "You getting used to things around here? Is everyone being nice and all?"

She shook her head yes and hoped that if she appeared not to want to talk, he would get the message and leave her alone. Not a chance. He fell into step with her and walked close enough that his arm occasionally brushed against hers. She began to become agitated by his presence. She tried to move over further, but he moved in sync with her and practically stayed joined at the hip with her.

Now she was starting to get some of her earlier piss and vinegar back and said "Is there something special you want, or are you content with 'accidentally' brushing against my arm like a shy school boy?"

Shane looked at her, a little shocked. He was a man full of confidence, and here this small pint of a girl was being disrespectful to him. He never stopped to think his invading her personal space was just as disrespectable. "Damn girl! Who pissed in your Cheerios this morning? I was just trying to be nice and get to know you a little."

"Look, if you want to get to know me, you do so from a distance of at least 3 feet. You got me? I'm a little selfish with my personal space so if you would, go find someone else to chat up, K?" she retorted.

He stopped walking, stared at her for a minute, like she was a rare bug or something, and walked off, obviously more than a little pissed off 'Fine by me' she thought.

She started walking across a small field that ended just behind the house. Looking at it made her think of her dream, which made her think about Daryl, and how none of this made sense at all. How was it that this guy gets all in her face with his downright meanness, and she ends up dreaming about almost kissing him? She had to get a grip, this felt dangerous to her.

The closer she got to the house, the madder she got at the way he spoke to her. Why did she let him get off as easy as she had? She barely stood up for herself at all. If she could put Shane in his place, she could certainly put Daryl in his. She decided to do just that and headed straight to the house, walked in like she owned the place, and went up the stairs. His door was still closed but that didn't make her even hesitate. She barged right in and said "Look, I don't know who you think you are, but you had no right to be such an ass to me when all I did was come to see if you were ok and see if you needed maybe some water or something." She was picking up steam as she continued "I've been treated like dirt my whole life, and I will be damned if I am going to take any shit from some redneck trailer trash asshole like you. Let me know when you are ready to apologize!"

Daryl looked at her, through squinted eyes, with that glare back in place. She stared right back and again, didn't back down.

After a short pause, he said "Girl, if you're waiting on an apology, you are seriously mistaking me for someone who gives a rat's ass. I didn't want ya in here then, and I want ya here even less now. So get the fuck out of my room and let me alone!" he said through gritted teeth.

Even though Daryl knew it was the opiates the doc had given him that had made him so irritable earlier, and even though he sort of felt bad about the way he had acted with her, he was not one to ever say he was sorry for anything.

Gaelynn just stood there, staring at him, still a little shocked at the venom in his voice and words, 'What had she done that was so bad that he hated her this much?' she wondered to herself. She had never expected to be friends with him, and it seemed unlikely she would become close to any of the other people in the group, but she did not

think she deserved this amount of hostility.

What kept him steamed was something he would never tell anyone. When he went down that ridge for the second time, Merle showed up. He knew it had just been in his head but it seemed so real. Merle was not one to coddle and baby anyone. When they were growing, when Merle was not in juvie or off getting into trouble again, his idea of brotherly love was beating the shit out of Daryl every chance he got. He figured he was making a man out of his little brother.

Merle spoke to him while he lay there, unable to move. He reminded Daryl that no one would ever give a damn about him except Merle. That the group would turn on him when his usefulness ran out. All he would ever be is redneck trailer trash to them. The words stung. Part of him thought 'no, they been giving me some respect, and know I am valuable to them' but the bigger part, the part that had been drilled into his head since he was a pup, was that the Dixon's were different, would never fit in with normal folks, never have what they had, a wife, kids and white picket fence. Men like them, well; they eventually ended up living at the bottom of a bottle or the end of a needle, and died long before their time.

This was the thinking that Daryl had been fighting against for the past few months with this group. But Merle was pretty convincing down there in that riverbed. Something snapped in Daryl, something vital, and all the hard work he had done to feel at least little accepted slipped through his grasp. Hell, it didn't slip through; he threw it all away, thinking 'To hell with them all! I ain't never needed anybody's approval or acceptance, and I ain't gonna start begging for it now.'

It had put him in a foul mood on the walk back to the farm, which amped up when that stupid bitch Andrea took a shot at him. That mood, combined with the drugs had made Gaelynn the perfect target when she stopped by, especially her.

There was something about her that made him uneasy. Sure, she was pretty and all, but she was just a kid. She acted older, most likely because of her hard life, but that didn't change how young she was. Even if he was interested in hooking up with a woman, which he wasn't, she was the last person that would give someone like him a chance. He was surprised she hadn't turned all lesbian or something. He wouldn't blame her a bit. Men were animals most of the time, and he tried his best not to be anything like that. He had never been too good with the ladies, didn't understand them, didn't know what to say to them, and didn't know much of anything when it came to romance or that kind of shit. He was better off alone. He was using his attitude about women to keep the girl at a distance, where she belonged; even if he had to keep her pissed off all the time. He was a man after all, and could be tempted, so it was best she hated him rather than become attached in any way what so ever.

He caught himself deep in thought with her looking on, looking half way between pissed and confused. Then he realized he had been deep in thought for several minutes as she stood by waiting for something. He had no idea what.

"Doesn't any of it matter anyways" he finally said out loud. "I ain't dead yet so them people out there are gonna have ta' put up with my ass for awhile longer; at least till I can figure out what I wanna do. I never planned to stay with 'em this long anyhow. Once I'm healed up, it might be time for me to be moving on."

Gaelynn was surprised by his words; she had figured he would be with the group along with her now. He was the first person she had met in years, other than Trist, that she had allowed herself to start trusting a tiny bit, at least until now. Now he was not only acting like a total ass, but was planning to leave the group and her behind. She had to come up with a way to convince him to take her with him. She would rather deal with him being an ass than be left behind with people she knew so little about, especially Shain.

She would think about it long and hard before she would discuss it with him. Surely he had some healing to do before he could plan to leave. She heard herself speak before she had really formed any sensible idea. "I have already had one altercation with Shain today, and if you leave me here with him, and he hurts me, or kills me, that will be on you!"

He looked at her, a little pissed that Shain had already started shit with her, but rather than ask about it, he just rolled over and put his back to her for an answer. He had to keep his distance; he would not let himself care about what Shane did or didn't do.

She stood there for a moment more, then stormed out of his room, for the second time.

She went to bed early; she was so tired of dealing with everyone, and was so worried that she would soon be left behind by Daryl. She fell into an uneasy sleep, undisturbed by dreams.

The following morning, she watched as Daryl walked out of the house and into his tent without a word to anyone.

She walked over to her usual tree and sat down. She needed a few minutes to wake up before attempting to associate that morning with what she was beginning to think of as 'Rick's People'.

She ate a small amount for breakfast, peaches this time, with that wonderful bread, still warm from the oven. Shane took another group to the practice range and Rick was off with Hershel somewhere.

Dale walked over to her and said "I know this is not any good. Had I know about the apocalypse, I would have packed better books. But if you want to take a break from those medical books and do a little light reading, try this." Gaelynn took it and began to read, trying to get into it, but it really was nothing but a bad romance novel, not her cup of tea.

Sometime later she heard Shane and the others return and gathered loosely near the fire pit. She could feel a good bit of tension in the air from where she sat. Something was going on, but she had no idea what. She didn't care either, it's not like their problems had anything to do with her.

She watched as Glenn walked up to the others, stopped and looked back at Maggie who was standing on the porch of the house. Maggie glared at Glenn and slightly shook her head no. He just looked at her a second, turned around and looked at Dale, who in turn gave his head a slight nod. Glenn took a deep breath, apparently making up his mind on whatever was bothering him, and told the group something that sent a shock wave through them. Gaelynn couldn't hear what it was Glenn had said from where she sat, but she could hear the others as they began to get angry and talk in louder tones.

Shane said "You have got to be fucking kidding me? This is insane, so fucking wrong! I knew Rick didn't have it in him to deal with Hershel, now you tell us that all our lives have been in danger from the moment we came to this farm?"

Shane didn't wait for an answer; he ducked into the RV and brought out a large black bag of guns. He began to hand them out to the others, saying "You with me? You gonna protect what's yours?" He handed one to T Dog, to Glenn, to Andrea and to Daryl.

Each took the gun offered, and all but Daryl stood there in a state of shock, not knowing what to expect next.

Andrea asked "Are you sure Glenn, I mean, could it be a mistake?"

Just then everyone's attention was drawn to a noise coming from the line of trees to their left. It was Hershel, Rick, the young boy who also lived in the house. Between the three of them, they were ushering two Walkers in the direction of the barn. The Walkers were on snare poles, the kind used to handle wild animals. At this point Daryl came out of his tent to see what all the yelling was about. He glanced at her, and then began watching everything unfold before him.

Rick had one of the walkers on one pole and Hershel lead the other, with the young man clapping his hands and doing other things to make the walkers follow him. Shane ran over to them and shouted at Rick "What the hell are you doing man? You got to be kidding me! Do you have any idea what the hell is going on anymore? You have lost it brother! Look at you! Has it really come to this?"

Hershel stepped between the two men and held one arm up to keep them apart, as if a man his age could stop a bully like Shane. "What are you all doing with guns? I said no guns! This is how we do things here, this is my land, my rules, and if you people plan to stay, you are going to have to learn do things my way. I am not going to allow you or any of your friends to endanger these poor sick folks. They need our help and I plan to try to help them."

"You are out of your fucking mind!" Shane yelled, "Those two are not sick, they are dead!" He drew his pistol and aimed it at the one Hershel was leading. "If they were alive, could they survive this?" he said as he shot the walker in the gut. "Could they take this?" he shot it again, and again. "These things are dead, and if you get bit by one, you are going to end up just like them, and start eating your family and friends! Don't you see what's going on? Oh, to hell with it" he finished as he put a bullet in the walker's head.

Gaelynn was stunned. She looked at Daryl, whose features were impassive as he watched it all play out. There was so much shouting; she couldn't make out most of what was being said.

After Shane put down the Walker, he walked quickly to the door of the barn and began to break the locks with the butt of his rifle. Hershel and Maggie begged him to stop, to not do this. They were both frantic and had tears streaming down their faces. Hershel dropped to his knees, and Maggie stood behind him with her arms around his sholders.

"You people with me here?" as he looked from Glenn, to Andrea, to T-Dog, to Daryl. Behind him, walkers began to emerge from the barn, as Shain started shooting; each of the others took their place next to Shain and also began to fire their weapons. There were so many walkers, and the sound of gunfire was deafening.

Gaelynn covered her ears, and watched as each walker dropped to the ground, one by one. Soon, the guns were silenced and it was over.

They began to look at each other, almost as if they were asking themselves if they had done the right thing. Lori began to sob, knowing that there was no way Hershel would allow them to stay now.

This short period of normalcy and peace ended in a cloud of gun powder, blood and the smell of cordite. Each of the group members wondered 'What's going to happen now?' There was fear in all their eyes, all except Daryl, who never seemed to show any emotion except anger, and Rick; he just looked broken and very, very tired. He had lost this battle, what would he lose next?


	14. Chapter 14 - Revision

I do not own, nor do I profit from anything having to do with "The Walking Dead, be it TV show, or comics. I am writing this for personal reasons only.

In the Nick of Time

Chapter 14 Revised

_How can I trust you?_

_How could you need me to know?_

_It's getting to be so cold_

_The decision is in_

_And I won't break_

_You come and you run_

_With our lives at stake, _

_Well, someone might get hurt but it won't be me._

_The decision is in_

_There will be no fight_

_It might sound cold_

_But I know what's right cause_

_Someone must get hurt and it won't be me._

_"Someone Must Get Hurt" She Wants Revenge_

Chapter 14

After the massacre at the barn, there was very little anyone could say or do to undo the damage it caused with Hershel. Any chance that he would agree to allow them to stay on the farm, died with all the Walkers that had been kept in the barn. Everyone had mixed feelings about what had happened. They all agreed that killing off the Walkers was the right thing to do, but most disagreed about the way it had been handled. Now, as a result, they were going to lose the only true safe haven they had found since the beginning of the end of what was.

Out of respect, they dug graves for Hershel's wife and his step-son. A small service was held, and once it ended, each person moved off in their own direction, each seeking much needed isolation time to deal with all that had happened.

Rick followed Hershel back into the house, and hoped against hope that there would be some way to 'fix' this. Lori had told him a few days earlier that she was pregnant, and staying on the farm held greater importance than ever before. Lori took Carl to their tent and had him rest for awhile.

Andrea, T-Dog and Shane worked on clearing away the bodies of the rest of the Walkers. Andrea completely supported what Shane had done; but felt his tactics were less than desirable. He tended to get so angry; his agreement concerning any topic seemed to become personal, rather than strategic. His actions seemed to be becoming heavier handed, which was starting to scare some of the group.

Glenn and Maggie sat on the porch, looking at each other, each waiting for the other to say something that would comfort or ease the discomfort and tension that galvanized the entire group.

Neither could find the words to comfort, or to acknowledge what might happen next.

After the bodies of the Walkers had been set ablaze, Shane and Andrea left T-Dog to oversee the burning corpses, so they could discuss the possibility of leaving the group and going off on their own. Shane talked a good talk, but in his heart, he knew he would never be able to leave Lori. In his mind, there was a very good chance that the infant growing inside her was his. From his perspective, Rick was not long for this world. He did not think Rick had what it took to survive in this new world, nor could he keep his family safe. Rick was too mild tempered and easy going. He would either be killed soon or be the death of the group if allowed to continue to call the shots. Shane's thoughts grew darker and darker with each passing day.

Dale had taken it upon himself to keep watch over Shane, he knew that at some point, someone would die at Shane's hands, and he had to stop it if he could. He felt something ugly was coming, and wanted to be prepared for it.

Gaelynn looked around for Daryl, but he had vanished into the woods as soon as the service was over. She sat down under her tree again to think about all that had happened since that morning. She had been shocked by the incident at the barn and was not sure how she felt about anyone in the group at this point. Once again, she felt lost and alone.

Daryl headed into the forest, with a heavy burden on his shoulders. He knew that cold weather was coming soon, and if they left the farm, he would once again be responsible for feeding these people. Only this time, the group would most likely be larger than it had been when they arrived on the farm. He didn't see Maggie letting Glenn go leave without her. Lori was pregnant and would need extra protein, and anything else healthy that could be found. And there was the girl he himself had brought to live with them. She weighed on his mind most. Although he treated her as if he didn't give a damn what happened to her, to a point, he felt responsible for her. She haunted his nights as well. Many times when he closed his eyes, he saw her, as she was that first night, the way she looked, naked in the glow of the sunset as she changed her clothes. Her near perfect body, those beautiful wings on her back, he could not stop the images from invading his mind. It was beginning to drive him nuts, and that resulted in his being more irritated with her. He knew she was broken, and would most likely never allow a man to lay a hand on her, especially a clumsy idiot like him. His experiences with women were few and far between. For the most part, the only time anyone laid a hand on him was when it was balled up into a fist. He had grown used to it so many years ago, he could not recall when or how it had all started. It was his life, the only life he knew.

Things were going to be hard on all of them soon enough; and they would look to him again, hungry and needy. He almost longed for the days when all he had to worry about was himself, and on the odd occasion, Merle.

His plan was to sneak back into camp after dark and get all his gear. Find a quiet place set far away from the group, so he could think and not be distracted by all the drama that was always going on with these people. He felt he was at the end of his rope with most of them, knew he was beginning to revert back to the ornery loner he had been in the beginning. Why not? Nothing really had changed. Merle was his only family and no one else mattered. That was all there was to it.

In the back of his mind, he knew he was kidding himself. He knew it was his fault the girl was in their camp and for reasons he did not understand, he knew she was going to be trouble for him.

Once he had gathered all his gear he set off and found a quiet place for his own camp. He needed to be alone for awhile, and if anyone had a problem with that, well, they could just kiss his ass.

Gaelynn woke up early, earlier than normal; she had had trouble falling to sleep the night before, and found it hard to stay asleep, so she finally gave in and dressed for the day. She put on her jeans, and a black shirt with the OHM symbol in purple on the front. She

had researched the meaning of the symbol and discovered that it was the sound of the vibration that ran through everything in the world, connecting everyone and everything. Although she liked what it represented, she herself did not feel connected to much of anything.

She took a walk over to the water pump and let the icy water run through her fingers first, and then splashed some on her face, to wash away any remnants of sleep. As she was walking back to her tent, she noticed that Daryl's tent was gone. So was his motorcycle. Had he just left all of them in the middle of the night? Would he really do that? Just leave without saying anything to anyone? She would ask around when more were up and moving.

Off in the distance, she could see a small trail of smoke rising from an area surrounded by trees. Without thinking about it, she turned and walked in that direction. The farm was safe right? It wasn't likely she would run into Walkers or trespassers', and maybe it was Daryl.

She walked for a long time before finally reaching the source of the smoke. She found a small campsite, with one tent, belonging to Daryl. There were also the remains of a brick fireplace and chimney, with a metal coffee pot sitting on a grate. The coffee smelled nice. He had strung a line of rope from one tree to another, and hanging from it was a drying shirt, and two dead squirrels.

Of course, he had heard her coming from a long way off, she had learned quickly that the man could hear things no normal person could hear. There was no sneaking up on him, not if you valued your life. He had time to think about he would deal with her coming to his new home uninvited. When she came into view, he first just ignored her, waiting for her to say something.

"Hey" she said softly, and then waited on him to reply.

"What do you want?" he answered with a gritty tone to his voice. "Can't a man have some alone time without you hunting him down and getting in his face?"

She looked at him, trying her best to keep the confusion from showing in her eyes. She also tried her best not to allow his attitude to hurt her. She was more experienced with physical pain, dealing with emotions was new to her and she lacked the control she needed so badly.

When she didn't respond to his nasty comments, he turned to look at her. Hard as she tried to hide it, he could see the hurt, and immediately felt bad for being mean to her again. He knew it was best to keep her at a distance, but seeing the pain his actions caused her, made him feel weak. That in turn, made him angrier. So, instead of saying something more comforting, he just snarled "Don't you fucking look at me like that! You ain't my friend, you ain't my woman, and I don't have to make small talk with folks when they show up uninvited. You need to just go on back to the others and stay clear of this place, for your own good, so go on and git going before I get more pissed off and…." He trailed off.

"And what?" she asked, her chin quivered a tiny bit but she was proud that she immediately raised it and stood firm. She was doing a good job of keeping herself together. Only her violet eyes showed the true depth of how hurt she was.

"What are you doing to do? Hit me? Go right ahead, if it makes you feel like a big man. While you're at it, maybe you should show me my place, and shut my mouth for me, how about that? You sick of me being here? So what! I'm here; and I am not leaving until you tell me why you hate me so much. What did I ever do to you to piss you off like this? How about explaining that!" and the more she raised her voice as she spoke, the closer she moved towards him, daring him to strike her, daring him to hurt her. He stood his ground, and glared at her with more anger than he ever thought possible.

She kept coming though, and soon they were face to face; her face just inches from his.

"You best be backing off little girl, and get out of my face, or maybe you will feel my backhand!" he could hardly believe what he was saying, he would never hurt a woman, but this girl was pushing his buttons to the limit. If she didn't back off soon, he was almost afraid of what he might do. He had never been this unsure of himself; his own control slipping away from him, and it scared him.

"Hell no, fuck you! I told you, I am not leaving until I get some answers. You want me to go, you best start talking." She said, staying right up in his face.

"Listen bitch, I am only gonna say this once. One! You best get out of my face, now! And two! I don't obey orders from anyone, especially some snot nosed brat who ain't even grown out of her training bra yet!"

That last comment was all she could take, and with that, she lost it. She slapped him hard across the left side of his face. He was so caught up in the argument and his own confusion, he instinctively struck back. He back handed her across her face, knocking her to the ground.

He stood over her, stunned.


	15. Chapter 16

The two men he had chosen to go with him on this night's Creepy-Crawl were two of his best soldiers, Bowman and Martinez. He loved heading out into the night whenever possible, and to travel in whichever direction the wind took him. He went searching, for supplies, new biters for the games, or just some excitement in the way of stumbling across other survivors. This post-world could be so boring at times, so the act of seeking out new prey made these outings very special to him. Hardly anyone knew why he called these missions "Creepy-Crawls", which remained his little secret. Occasionally one of the residents in his fine city would hear one of his soldiers use the term and they would raise an eyebrow, but no one had the nerve to question him or his ways.

He branded these late night expeditions by that particular title due to the fact that it had been used by Charles Manson when he sent his extra-special family members out into the night on certain little adventures. He would tell them to find unlocked homes to enter, forbidding them to break into a home. Go in; move around in the darkness without waking the residents. They could move objects, or take a small item, if they wanted too, but never anything of real value. Just a little "tell" that someone had been in their home while they slept. That Manson guy, how he loved to fuck with people's minds, and for that reason, he himself respected the man that the world had come to loath for his lifestyle, his appearance, and most of all, for his ugly crimes.

The three of them set out close to midnight, and drove the many roads leading to and from his city. He knew every inch of the territory immediately surrounding his domain, but he used these excursions to learn more and more about the wider circle surrounding Woodbury. He made it his business to take whatever he wanted, to control every man, woman, child, or animal that happened to cross his path. He filled his city with new citizens on a regular basis, which was necessary in light of how quickly folks died within his protective walls.

They headed north that night, just driving slowly, mapping all previously unknown roads, buildings, or homes. The homes were always checked for squatters, or biters. They also took any still viable supplies found, food, bottled water, guns and ammo, even draining all vehicles of any remaining gasoline. He was slowly stripping the area of anything of usefulness, or that might provide comfort to another person who happened to be on his turf. It was all about control to him, and he craved it, needed it, like most need air.

After traveling several hours, not finding anything remotely interesting, and the sun began to rise , he was about to call it a night and head back, when he noticed way off in the distance, a line of about 5 vehicles, and these were moving. He didn't come across other survivors nearly as often as he would have liked so when it happened, it had an almost a sexual arousal effect on him, many times giving him an erection just by seeing a moving car in the distance.

He instructed Martinez to keep the vehicles within sight but if he allowed the others to spot them, he would be dead before he could draw another breath. They followed this caravan, noting the infrequent stops for short breaks, only to head off again as quickly as possible. The Governor carried a radio transmitter/receiver with him when he was away from the city and used it now to contact his next in command and ordered him to put together a 2nd team to come relieve them. He needed to head back, get reports of anything unusual that may have happened in his town while he was away. He was hungry and wanted a decent meal, to get laid, and get some rest. He would keep tabs on this group, figure out where they were heading and where they stopped along the way. Soon he would get a closer look at whomever these strangers were, what they had, or did they have any useful information he could gain from them.

The 2nd team took 2.5 hours to catch up to his vehicle. He gave them their instructions and told them to contact him later that day, around 5 PM. They would then bring him up to date on the groups movements; then he and his team would drive to wherever the group was at that moment, and send his back up Creepy-Crawlers home. He needed to refresh after the long night of nothing, then the excitement of finally having the evening pay off. He wanted his wits about him later when he returned. He had not come across a group of survivors this large since the beginning of the end, when the shit that ruined everyone else's world, brought him everything he had ever dreamt about.

They headed back to his city at a fast pace. He grabbed a meal, took whoever caught his attention that morning to bed for a quickie, and then slept until his 2nd team woke him by radio at 4:45PM. It was play time! He was so excited he actually felt like jacking off before they headed out. He didn't want to waste time finding a suitable woman, so using his own hand was the best solution for now. Who knows, maybe by this time tomorrow, he would have a new toy to play with! That thought helped him get off quicker than what was normal for him, he had amazing staying power, something the women here hated.

His soldiers had gassed up his vehicle, and were waiting for him when he emerged from his sleeping quarters. They already had the coordinates that would take him to where the other survivors were, so they headed off quickly.

He caught up with 2nd team fairly quickly; the caravan was in sight again. A member from 2nd team filled him in on everything they had witnessed during their surveillance since his departure. They had left the main road about an hour ago and were setting up camp. He sent 2nd team back to Woodbury and had Martinez take them as close to the others as possible without sounding any alarm. They left the car and walked closer. As soon as the three of them located a place to settle in and study the group he used his binoculars, and started writing notes in a book he always took with him on Creepy-Crawls. He noted seeing about five different men, two children, and four women. He described each one as best he could in his notes. He drew a map of the camp, where each tent sat, where each car was parked. He had always been good with details.

Just as he thought he had all the information he was going gain from this distance, a girl he had not noticed before crawled out of one of the tents. Even from this distance, he could tell she was stunning. He trained the binoculars on her and adjusted the lens a bit until he could see her as clearly as possible. She was small, only about 5 foot and maybe 2 or 3 inches tall. She had a slight build, with long black hair, that featured one white strand that lay against her cheek. She hosted a black eye and bruised cheek, but neither marred her beauty. He wondered only for a second as too how she had gotten the injuries, but he didn't really care.

She was dressed entirely in black, a long sleeved shirt, and jeans that fitted her like a glove. Her ass was perfect, her tits were a little smaller than what he preferred but he could let that go. That sweet ass of hers more than made up for what she lacked up top. Before seeing her, he figured that the blonde in the group would be nice and tasty, but now, he knew he had to have this girl. She looked young, but now that jail or prison time was no longer a deterrent for bedding under aged girls, he didn't care what age a female was, if he wanted her, he would have her. In Woodbury, he had all the women he wanted, no one dared refuse him. He had experimented with a girl who said she was 12, but even though she was tight, she didn't really feel much different from the hundreds of others he had taken. He had a feeling; this girl would be different, even if it was only because of her astonishing beauty. She took a plate of food from one of the other women, and went back inside her tent. He watched that tent for hours, and no one else went in or came out. He was almost certain, she was alone in there. Thinking of her in there alone and vulnerable was very exciting to him.

After all the others finished eating and cleaning up, they began to settle down for the night. He watched as each person paired up with their significate other and headed into the tents, while a large black man went inside the RV and an older white man climbed to the top of it carrying a rifle. H set up a chair and sat down. He must be the first watch. They would be able to handle him easily. The last person to disappear into the one remaining tent was a strong looking man who carried a crossbow. He could be trouble. He would have to have one of his men watch that tent carefully. By this time, he knew where each person was. It was time to wait for the right moment.

The three of them waited for two hours, he figured the an average watch was 4 hours, so the old man would be halfway into his stint, maybe starting to get a little sleepy. Among the others, no one had noticeably moved or made a sound, other than the occasional snore. It was time.

They crept silently down from where they had been watching, slow and steady, barely making a sound. Bowman took a cloth from his pocket and opened a small bottle of chloroform they had found at a medical facility a while back. He poured some of the liquid onto the cloth, and stuck that into his back pocket so he could climb the ladder to the top of the RV. He had not only the old man to consider, but the black man who was sleeping inside. He crept up behind the old man, and with one hand he pressed the cloth over his mouth and nose, with the other hand, he grabbed the man's rifle so it would not fall and create a disturbance. The old man was unconscious in seconds. He left him there, and climbed back down to the ground. Martinez made his way to the crossbow carrying man's tent and quietly looked inside, there was no movement, and he could hear the soft sounds of snoring coming from the resting man.

The Governor walked to the girl's tent and took a quick look inside. She was curled up in a fetal position, hugging herself in her sleep. She wore the same black top but had changed into a pair of black sweats with tiny skulls on them. He waited until Bowman came to him, handed him the cloth. He silently went inside, and quickly covered her nose and mouth with the cloth. She only had seconds to stare up at him with fearful eyes before she too, was unconscious. He picked her up and carried her out of the tent. The four of them were heading out of the camp when they heard a soft sound come from behind them. They turned and saw the little girl, standing there, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. So far, she had not seen them. Martinez moved to the child's side as quick as a cat, pulling a knife from of his belt as he moved. At the same instant that he covered her mouth with his left hand, his right hand drew the knife cleanly across her small, fragile throat. He held her until she stopped moving and he was certain she was dead. He laid her on the ground, and the three men walked away, without even one glance behind them. The Governor had his prize and was eager to get home and be alone with her.


	16. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

T-Dog had set his alarm for 1:45 AM so he could relieve Dale and take the next watch. He got up slowly, a hand to the small of his back. He had turned in an odd way or had picked up something fairly heavy, because his back screamed when he tried to stand up straight. He moved, twisted at the waist a few times to work the kinks out, and felt better right away.

He picked up his gun and a bottle of water; then headed out the door of the RV. He took a moment to take a leak before climbing the ladder. When he reached the top he began to say, "Ok Dale, bedtime for you old man!" but only got as far as 'bedtime' before he noticed Dale was lying on the floor of the roof, not moving. He rushed over and knelt at his side to make sure he was breathing. Once he confirmed that, he called out for the others, this was a problem he could not take care of on his own. Dale might be sick, had a heart attack, it could be anything. Then he noticed the astringent odor that lingered on Dale's body somewhere. NO, this was more than an illness; this was much, much worse. He called out again, this time with more urgency in this voice.

People began to leave their tents, some very quickly, with a weapon in their hand, some slower, appearing not as concerned. Before he had a chance to tell them why he had called out, a piercing scream was heard by the group. It was Carol. She was kneeling on the ground, holding Sophia's lifeless body in her arms. It was obvious someone had cut the poor little girl's throat, Carol screamed out sob after sob. Why would anyone want to hurt her little girl? She was slowly going into shock and the screaming slowly died down as she went.

Rick was stunned to see the girl in Carol's arms, but he needed to keep focused on the situation, and try to figure out what had happened. He turned his attention to the black man atop the RV first. "What is it T-Dog, is Dale OK?"

"I aint no doctor, but I think someone used ether or chloroform on him. He's unconscious, but breathing ok. What's wrong with Sophia? Is she and Carol OK?" he answered back with his own questions.

"Can you carry him down?" Rick asked, for the moment ignoring his questions. T-Dog told him he could, but not without help. So Shane climbed the ladder and between the two of them, they gently lowered Dale to the ground below.

"Lori, see what you can do to help Carol, Daryl, start doing a perimeter search of the campsite, make sure everyone else is accounted for. I doubt you could find any tracks or clues to what has happened until morning." Rick began getting everyone organized to try to minimize the panic.

Lori, Andrea, Glenn and Maggie all gathered around Carol, and spoke to her quietly, gently trying to bring her out of her semi-catatonic state. She just sat there, rocking Sophia's body back and forth, talking or praying under her breath. Her eyes were vacant and tears continued to roll down her cheeks. Lori brought a blanket and between her and Andrea, they were able to get it around the tiny form in Carol's arms.

Rick, Shane, and T-Dog all crouched around Dale's form, and Rick began to lightly slap his hand on one of Dale's cheeks, trying to wake him. It worked quickly and Dale suddenly shot upright, his eyes wide and blinking furiously. "What? What's happened? Did I fall asleep while on watch? I don't do that, tell me what's going on here?" he asked, a little shaken.

Rick explained that T-Dog had found him unconscious on top of the RV and from the smell, they were pretty certain someone had used chloroform to knock him out. So far, they still did not know who or why someone would attack their camp in the middle of the night.

Daryl returned and his face was pale. "Anyone seen Gaelynn? She ain't in her tent." The men all started looking around trying to locate the girl. She was nowhere in the camp.

Shane, always the first to jump to the worst of conclusions, said "She took off; she left because of what she'd done to that little girl over there! I bet she hasn't gotten too far yet; we should spread out and start searching for her. That bitch has some questions that need answering!"

And with that, Shane stood up, and cocked his rifle, as if he was going to use it right then and there.

Rick began to raise his voice in anger at Shane's ugly assumption, but then immediately lowered his voice and spoke through gritted teeth, "Shane, disengage that weapon immediately, you have no idea what has happened, none of us do at this minute, so if you do not settle down and start thinking rationally, I will take your weapon away, and if I need too, I will secure you to a tree until we get this figured out. If you do not believe me, go ahead, try me!"

Shane looked back at him with a small amount of surprise in his eyes. He knew Rick could never take him, not alone, but he could get the rest of these fools to help him. Better to stay quiet for a while and see how their 'leader' handled what appeared to be a murder, maybe more.

"She aint run off, if she was going to up and leave, why wouldn't she take her car? She just got it back, why would she go walking off alone in the woods when she could drive away?" Daryl offered.

"Maybe because she didn't want anyone to hear her start the car, and discover what she had done before she could get away! You ever think about that?" Shane shot back.

"OK, everyone quiet down, no more accusing her of anything until we find some evidence that she was involved with that was done to Sophia." Rick interjected, and as he talked he could feel his throat tighten up and tears started to well up in his eyes. That little girl did not deserve to die like that; none of them did, but especially that sweet little girl. She had never done anything to anyone. Carl was probably devastated. He needed to tend to his family but he could not afford to stray too far from Shane, at this point, he had no idea what his prior best friend was capable of. So he stayed with the men and let the women and Glenn handle Carol for now. There was not much of anything anyone could do until dawn, and that was hours away.

The women, as well as Glenn gathered closely around Carol, not knowing what to say. Each was doing their level best not to break down themselves. Carl had just moments ago, run to his tent, crying and swearing he would kill who ever had done this.

Everyone was in various degrees of shock. They all knew some of them would die, but had always imagined it would be at the hands of the Walkers. This was done by someone alive, and evil. If they had taken Gaelynn, she was in a great deal of danger. This was the thought that kept running through Daryl's mind, and he paced, and chewed on the side of his thumb. He needed to be doing something, anything to help find the young woman. But he knew it was useless to head off in a random direction. Morning would come soon enough and with it there would be tracks, a blood trail, something that would help lead him to Gaelynn. After what he had done to her, he was almost sick to his stomach with worry. This was his fault. All of it was his fault.

It was his fault that someone was able to enter the camp undiscovered. It was his fault that Dale had been attacked and sedated. It was his fault that poor little Sophia was dead, and most of all, his fault that Gaelynn was missing, most likely taken by the men who had killed the child. His mind kept turning and returning to what he knew they would do to her.

If he had not been so wrapped up in his own pity party, blaming himself for hurting Gaelynn, for treating her like shit, if he had been taking care of business like normal, he would have heard anyone trying to sneak into the camp. He knew this for a fact, and the knowing, made him sick.

Andrea made a pot of coffee on the camp fire that had been rekindled, and everyone sat around in a circle, not saying a word, each lost in their own thoughts. Only Carol stayed outside the circle, lying on the ground next to her daughter's body, holding her close as if she were just sleeping.

Finally dawn came. Rick had been thinking for hours on how to proceed once they had the light. As soon as there was enough of it, he started to tell Daryl to walk the perimeter again, but he didn't have too. Daryl was already heading to one end of the camp and began his search.

Rick tried as gently as he could to find out what Carol wanted, for them to bury Sophia here at this campsite, a place they would most likely never return to, or to take her with them for at least a day or two in the hopes they would find a place to settle for a bit, and bury her there. Carol finally raised her head, her eyes still half vacant, she said her daughter was in heaven now. Where they buried her didn't really matter, she guessed.

With that, Rick ordered Shane and T-Dog to get started on the grave. Lori went into Carol and Sophia's tent and searched through all the girls clothing trying to find something nice to bury her in. She found a dress that she had never seen before, it was pink, and pretty. It was not the kind of thing anyone wore anymore, and it was perfect. She also found some white tights that were not too dingy, and a pair of black patent leather Mary Jane's.

Daryl returned and said he had a trail, three sets of foot prints heading south, and was gone before Rick could say a word.

She and Andrea, after a great deal of quiet pleading, were able to take the child's body from the mother. They took her into the RV and began preparing her for her final resting place. They removed her clothes and clean every trace of blood from her frail looking body. They washed her hair as well. They took some sterile bandages and wrapped them around her neck to cover the wound. Then put the tights on her, then the dress, and finally the shoes. She looked lovely, other than her sickly pale complexion. Andrea, knowing that Gaelynn had makeup in her car, went and retrieved the purple box Carl had given her. Was that just yesterday? It didn't seem possible.

Between the two of them, they added a small amount of foundation to the child's face, a tiny dusting of blush to her cheeks, and pale pink lip gloss to her lips. They hoped that their efforts would make the next step easier for Carol, and for Carl. Sophia looked so pretty now. Her face had a tiny bit of color to it, making her appear almost alive again. It was the spray of freckles across her cheeks and nose that finally broke Lori, and she wept for Sophia, for Carol who had lost her only remaining family, having lost her husband in a Walker attack several months ago. She wept for Carl, who had lost his best friend. She even wept for the infant she carried in her belly, how in God's name was she and Rick supposed to keep this child safe, when it was now apparent anyone of them could die silently, alone, in the middle of the night.

After she dried her tears as best she could, she opened the door of the RV and asked Rick how the digging was going, and discovered they had finished. She asked Rick to tell everyone to get ready, and when they were, would he come inside the RV and carry Sophia out to where she was to be buried.

While waiting for Rick to return for Sophia, she and Andrea took a white sheet from the bed in the vehicle and folded it nicely, so that after they held whatever kind of service they could come up with, they could wrap her body before they covered it with dirt.

They both ran to their tents to quickly wash up and put on clean clothes.

By the time they returned to the RV, Rick was standing outside the door, waiting for them.

Andrea and Lori went to join the others, and Rick went inside. He paused a moment, amazed at how much work the two women had put into making the child more presentable. She looked liked she was sleeping. He bent down and placed a soft kiss on her forehead, picked her up, and carried her outside.

Everyone watched as he made his way over to them, and when he was close enough so that they could see Sophia, they all began quietly Lori and Andrea what an amazing job they had done, and how beautiful the child looked. Carol smiled through her tears at how pretty her baby girl was. She had never had a chance to dress up during her life. Carol was always too afraid of what kind of sick thoughts would enter Ed's diseased brain if he saw how truly lovely the child was when wearing a pretty dress. Now, she was on her way to meet the Lord and she looked like an Angel.

Lori and Andrea took the sheet they have brought with them, and laid it out so that Rick could lay the child's body on top of it.

None of them had much of a spiritual background, Maggie had mostly likely more experience than anyone, so without even being asked, she began to speak "I know I have only been with you for a short period of time, but it does not take a great deal of time to see how much a group of people mean to each other. From what I have been told, this child had brought light into each of your hearts with her smile, her silly jokes, or her kindness. Sophia is not gone from us, but will live on in each of our hearts. The Lord our God has called her to his side, and there she will dwell in the House of the Lord, she will never again be afraid, or hungry, or cold. She will live eternally in the warmth and the love, and with the Grace of our Lord. Amen."

Rick and Glenn began to wrap the sheet around Sophia's small body, but Carol stopped them. She said, "Let me tuck my baby in this last time." Then she wrapped the material snuggly around the child's form. She picked her up into her arms and stood. She handed the child to Rick, saying "Would you please hold my baby for me for a moment?"

Rick took the child from the mother's arms, and waited as she stepped into the grave that had been dug for her little Sophia. Once she was ready, she held open her arms and he returned the child to her.

Carol knelt, and gently set Sophia down. She started to step out of the hole, but hesitated, then leaned down, and opened the material that hid the child's head; then she too, placed a loving kiss on her forehead. She re-wrapped the material, and stepped out of the grave. She looked down at her daughter for only a moment, then turned and walked back to her tent, and went inside.

Shane and T-Dog began to replace the dirt, when Carl suddenly shouted, "Wait! Please, wait just one minute, I'll be right back!" and ran to his own tent, disappeared inside for a few seconds, then came running back to the grave. In his hand he held what everyone knew to be his favorite action figure, Silver Surfer. "She always wanted to be Surfer when we played Super Heroes; I think she should take him to Heaven with her. In case she ever gets bored or something." And with that, he knelt down and laid the plastic figure on what was most likely the girl's chest. "Good Bye Sophia, I know you wanted me to be your boyfriend, and I would have been when we got older, I'm sorry I always ran when you tried to kiss me on the cheek and stuff. I should a let you. I sure am gonna miss you!" he then stood back up, wiping the tears from his eyes as he watched them finishing filling the hole.

Once this was done, each of them went back to their place in the circle around the fire, and mostly just stared off into the distance. In almost each person's heart, they wished, hoped or prayed that Daryl would find whoever did this, and kill them, as slowly and as painfully as only a Dixon could.

**"Song of Sophia" by Dead Can Dance**

**With one wish we wake the will**

**Within wisdom**

**With one will we wish the wisdom?**

**Within waking**

**Woken, wishing, willing**


	17. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The time between when he first heard Carol's tragic scream until the moment there was daylight, Daryl felt as if he was going to explode with all the rage, fury, shame, and torment he felt. He endured it quietly, feeling that this was part of his punishment for his recent mistakes.

As soon as there was enough light to see by, Daryl started a search of the perimeter of the campsite, it only took one time around for him to find what he wanted, footsteps, leading away from the camp. He saw 3 different sets, all looked too large to be a female, so he figured there had been 3 men in their campsite and not one of them knew it. He quickly walked over to the group, told them what he had found and took off before giving anything a second thought. He knew that had been a mistake after about the first fifteen minutes. How the hell was he going to track down these men and keep track of the group at the same time?

He made one of the hardest decisions he had made in his entire life, he turned around and returned to the camp. Everyone was busy doing what was needed to give Sophia a decent burial. He hated that he was going to miss whatever ceremony they were going to have; he really liked that little girl. She would talk to him at times when the others were still afraid too.

He found Rick and asked him if they still had the walkie-talkies from a while back? Rick went into his tent, came back out with two, handed one to Daryl and told him to keep it on Channel 11, and they would be able to communicate as long as they didn't get more than fifty miles apart. He wished Daryl luck and went back to helping with trying to calm Carol.

Daryl set out for the second time, hoping that his stupidity was not going to cost him or Gaelynn too much. Now, at least, he could focus on the tracks and not worry about the others. The trail, so far, was easy to follow. They had several hours of a head start, and may have had a car close by. If that was the case, he was not sure what he was going to do.

After walking another thirty minutes, his heart sank as he saw that the tracks stopped at the edge of a dirt road. They did have a car, and now, he would just have to follow the dirt road and make it up as he went.

The road went on for what seemed like days, but he had only actually been walking it for about two hours. It suddenly ended at a strip of highway. Great! Which way? Right or left? That girl's life depended on him making the right choice. He had never felt so lost and unsure of himself. He just stood looking in one direction, then the other, an idea occurred to him.

He took out the walkie-talkie and tried to raise Rick. It took a few heart pounding moments, but Rick picked up. Daryl described his route thus far and asked if they could find the road he was looking at on a map. It took a while before Rick returned to him, but the news was not too bad. The road was Highway 15 and to the north was nothing for several hundred miles. To the south, there was a city about fifteen miles away, maybe that was where they had headed.

Rick told Daryl to stay right where he was; he was sending Shane in a car to pick him up so he can move quicker.

"Oh HELL NO!" Daryl shouted, "I ain't having anything to do with that prick. I heard what he said! He thinks she killed that little girl! Who's to say he don't kill her as soon as he sees her? No, send someone else if you want, but I ain't going nowhere with that asshole."

"OK" Rick said, trying to calm Daryl down a little, and trying to think of whom else to send. "What about Glenn?"

"Just tell him to hurry his ass up and get here quick. I ain't waiting all day." with that Daryl broke their connection.

It took Glenn only about forty minutes to reach Daryl, who went around to the driver's side and told Glenn to move his ass over, he was going to drive.

Daryl tore out onto that road he'd been staring at for way too long and headed South.


	18. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

When Gaelynn began to gain consciousness all she could think was 'Oh fuck! Not again!' She could tell she was in a small dark space, and it didn't take her long to figure out she was in a trunk. The ride was fairly smooth so they must be on a paved highway. She tried to remember everything bump or turn she felt, but it was no use.

The ride went on for long enough that she was getting closer and closer to a panic attack. Then the car slowed, she heard voices, and a gate opening. The car moved slowly forward, and then stopped. She heard two doors open, and braced herself for what was coming next. But all that happened was the driver was dropping off two others that had been in the car. The car began to move forward again, slowly. When it finally stopped, she took several deep breaths. She was damned if she was going to let this person see fear in her eyes. She had taken this ride too many times before. You show fear, it excites them more, and they hurt you more.

The person driving the car opened his door, stepped out and slammed it shut. She could hear him walking further away. Then moments later, he returned and now she heard two voices. One sounded slightly familiar, but she ruled that out, how would she know anyone other than the group she was with?

After a few minutes of trying to hear what their muffled discussion was about, the trunk opened and a man with long dark hair pulled behind his head with a rubber band leaned down towards her. His breath was worse than fish bait and his body stank of days on end without a bath. His face was pock marked from old acne scars. There were regular scars as well. He looked like a junk yard dog that had come up against too many dogs a whole lot bigger than him.

"Well, hello there sweetheart, I see you're awake. That's good, I won't need any help getting you inside then." he said, and then looked off at someone she couldn't see and waved him away. He reached in and grabbed her under one of her arms and helped her to scramble out of the trunk. She was not tied up or gagged. She thought this was strange. That was when he pulled a deadly sharp knife from his belt and held it in front of her eyes. "You see this, sweetheart" This is my guarantee you are not going to try to run off, or even life a finger to fight me. You know how I know it's a guarantee? Because you make one wrong step and I will gut you. I know how to gut a person so that they don't die right away, they don't even die in the next hour. They live for a good long while, and the pain you will feel? Well, there is nothing to compare it too. Believe me, it's 10 times worse that anything you can imagine, and I will not hesitate to ruin that tight, lean little body of yours. So, are we on the same page here?"

She just stared at the knife and slowly shook her head yes. What more could she do?

He led her into what seemed like a really nice home, at least from the outside. One the inside, there were bugs, and rats crawling around searching out food that had lay rotting out in the open. The floor was so littered, she could not even tell what color it was or if it was carpet or some other surface. This man lived like a pig, which no doubt was exactly what he was. She knew if she wanted to survive, she had to get him to trust her. If she showed no fear, or tried to escape, he might be more merciful.

"Uhmm, what do I call you? I mean, what's your name?" she asked sheepishly. She wanted him to think she was as meek as one of the mice she saw scurry away from them.

"Well, sweetheart, you can call me what everyone else around here calls me, Governor" with that he winked at her and did a slow purposeful stare, first up then down her body, making her queasy.

"My name is…" that was as far as she got before he backhanded her across the face, much the same way Daryl had just days before. How she wished he was with her now.

"I do not give a rat's ass what your name is; Sweetheart is who you are now. You hear me? It's been a hell of a long time since I have seen a girl as pretty as you are, even with the black eye, but do not for one second that will distract me from keeping you in line. Trust me; there has never been a girl that has left this house without my letting her leave. Not one!" he was proud of his brutality, and did not have an ounce of sympathy for anyone.

"Now, first of all, I need you to get cleaned up, I don't know who you been keeping warm between them legs of yours, and I hate smelling another man's scent on a woman I've claimed for my own."

He actually picked up a bell, a small brass bell, and rang it, like the lady of the house summoning the butler for tea and crumpets. This was just getting weirder by the minute. A woman came into the room, her head and eyes lowered. Gaelynn could see she had been used, and used badly. Her face was swollen, all parts of her body that were visible, were bruised. You could see in her walk that she had been rode hard, and often. But now, she was just a servant, and it was Gaelynn that would take over her previous duties.

"Sugar, take this young lady to the bath so that she can clean herself up. She smells of dirt and the woods. She needs a good cleaning, if you catch my meaning, and if she does not return to me in the condition I expect, it will be you who pays." he said to the woman who began to lead Gaelynn out of the room. They walked down a hallway until they came to a door, which the woman opened. Gaelynn was astonished to see a beautiful, clean bathroom, with a huge bath tub. She imagined the woman kept it in this condition. That pig out there most likely couldn't wash his hands without help.

The woman muttered something, and Gaelynn had to ask her to repeat it. "Please, don't make any trouble, anything he has threatened you with, it don't matter, he can do much, much worse. So please, take your clothes off while I put water in the tub for you.

There was hot water? And a bath? So far, this was not too bad, best to enjoy it as much as she could. She knew it was going to turn ugly, soon.

She removed all her clothes and was just about to step into the tub filled with fragrant warm water, when she heard a man's voice behind her.

"Well I'll be damned. If it ain't my pretty little missing merchandise!" said Merle from the open doorway.

.


	19. Chapter 20

Many apologies for the huge delay in getting this chapter out, an explanation is forth coming at the end.

Thank you for being so patient.

Chapter 20

When he saw the silver streak against the black hair, Meryl knew at once that this girl was the same one who had eluded his grasp those many months ago.

_When he had arrived at Russell's campsite that day, he knew for certain, that he was going to kill Russell and take whatever he wanted, including the girl. But when he arrived, Russell was already dead and the girl was gone. _

_For a solid hour he cursed, screamed, punched a few trees, and even took out his hunting knife and gave Russell's corpse a few extra deep stab wounds, he was that fucking pissed off, and there was no one else there for him to take it out on. By the time the tantrum ended, he was completely out of breath, Russell now looked like hamburger, and his heart was racing in a way he didn't like at all. He had tooted a bump of coke when he knew he was close to the camp and the drug, plus his frustrated antics were playing havoc with his heart. He slid down the side of a tree and just sat there, waiting for his heart to slow. _

_About twenty minutes later, he climbed back to his feet, and began to walk in circles around the campsite, trying to locate any tracks that might tell him what had happened here. There were far too many in the campsite's immediate area so he branched out a little further. It did not take him long to find what he was looking for. A set of prints, one set heading towards the camp, and one set, heading away. The set heading away from the site had more definition, this told him that whoever made the trip there, left carrying something that had weight. There was one thing that struck him odd about the tracks, and that was the similarity between the boots that made these and the ones he wore on his own feet. For a fleeting second, he considered that maybe Daryl had left the prints, but dismissed it. What were the chances? Must have been another hunter who shopped the same stores he and his brother used to shop. It was not uncommon for hunters to have very similar gear. So he forgot all about Daryl and began to follow the tracks into the woods. _

_After a few hours of tracking the trail seemed to end in a small clearing. The only evidence that it had been used as a campsite was the burnt patch of ground where a fire had been. Even this had been covered with pine needles and other types of brush. Again, Daryl came to his mind. But surely other men who spent most of their lives hunting in the woods would have evolved to such a degree that they would all adapt very well to what this world was like. What was done here was not all that unique. He again dismissed the notion that Daryl had anything to do with his pretty little prize disappearing when he was so close to getting his hands on her._

_He began the same circular search that he had done at Russell's campsite, but this time, his search turned up nothing. All he could find was one small partial footprint, too small to have been made by a man, so either it was his pretty prize, or a child. He voted on the prize. But he had no idea which direction to go in order to find her and take back what he considered his. _

_He just roamed around for a bit, trying to decide what to do next. He had already decided he was not going to return to the morons he had been traveling with, some of them had started devolving to cannibalism in order to keep from starving, it would not be long until all they all followed that dark path. As hungry as he was, Meryl could always find a way to eat. He had lost some weight since that day he found himself handcuffed on a roof in Atlanta, but he had not lost a bit of muscle. He was leaner, but if he stayed on a steady diet of protein and the occasional fruits he was able to find, he would stay lean and strong. His life depended on it, now that he was reduced to doing battle one handed._

_After months of just living day by day, he came across a group of three men. He watched them from a safe distance and followed them when they left in an old rusted out Chevy. Lucky for him, the thing had no power left and it limped along, allowing him to keep it at least within sight. After a while, the car approached a city. It had makeshift fences all the way around it, even some razor wire in places. The car stopped briefly at a gate, and then was quickly allowed passage. _

_Merle thought to himself, if this was a real city on the other side of the wall and fence, it had to have people, food, guns, and just about everything else he didn't have. He might even find himself some cooze in there. It had been so long since he had been with a woman he couldn't even remember who it had been. Lacking his own army or even all his limbs, he needed a plan, a good one if he wanted to get to the other side of that fence alive._

_It only took him a few minutes to put something together that he felt had a good chance of working. If it didn't, hell, he would just end up dead. Dead was not even something he considered a downside. He was getting tired of this world and what it had become, and if he could not improve his circumstances here, he would just as soon be dead. No big deal. _

_He watched the city for a week, noting when different vehicles came and went. He figured out that the skinny pock faced asshole with the ponytail was their leader. How he had gotten that position mystified Merle. But he was the guy he would have to convince if he wanted inside. So he laid his plans and waited for his opportunity. _

_Merle knew the cities leader always left the grounds around midnight some nights; he waited until he heard the gate opening and saw the car emerge. He then ran on up ahead, took out his knife, cut a nice slice into his left forearm, a hallow one across one of his cheeks, and then plunged the knife into his side, towards the back, where he knew he would not do any real damage. It would have hurt like hell for a while, but he had been saving the last of his coke for this night. He lay down across the road, where the driver would not be able to miss him. He just hoped they wouldn't just drive right over him thinking he was a geek. _

_Minutes later, the car slowly drew closer to where he lay. He stayed completely still. The car stopped but the engine continued to run. A door opened and he heard at least one of the men leave the car and start to walk in his direction. Then he heard what he had been hoping for, a second door opened and another man followed close behind the first. _

_When they reached Merle's body, one of them nudged him none too lightly in the ribs. He waited. _

"_Must be dead" one of the men commented. _

"_No way, unless he has worse wounds in front, that little nick in his back would not kill a guy his size. Let's turn him over." the other suggested._

_This was exactly the way Merle had the situation play out in his head. He could not believe his luck! He felt the two men start to grab hold of him to turn him over to his back, and that is when he sprang to his feet, busting one man in the face and quickly turning to kick the other man in the stomach. He pulled his knife from his side and within seconds both men were dead, one of a slit throat, the other, gutted like a pig. Merle just stood over them, breathing heavily. Waiting._

_He heard the sound of a car door opening, just as he predicted it would, and turned to see ponytail step out of the car with a gun pointed at Merle' s head. _

"_Drop the knife, now!" he shouted. _

_Merle put on his best 'confused, concussed, and bewildered' look on his face and looked at the man, as he did, he sort of shrugged his shoulders as if to say, 'what just happened?'_

"_Who are you?" he asked. "I thought these guys were the same ones that jumped me a little earlier. If they ain't, I am awful sorry. I was just trying to protect myself."_

_Ponytail looked at him for several long minutes. "You only have one hand." He said with a slight amused tone in his voice. "You have one hand and you took out two of my best guys." He began to chuckle a bit and said "You even took down my second in command!" by this time, he was laughing hard, holding onto his stomach. Merle had him right where he wanted him._

"_Don't suppose you need a job?" Ponytail asked him._

_And that is how Merle came to be in the house of the Governor. He became his second in command and was ruthless beyond anything the Governor had seen before. They became fast friends. _

Now here he was looking at the backside of the one that got away. Merle did not take kindly to not getting his way, but this girl belonged to the Gov, so for now, it was hands off. That didn't mean he couldn't have a little fun.

"You are a hell of a lot better look'n then what I got ta see that day at what's his name's campsite. What's with the red wings? You think you're some kind of angel? Or maybe a demon? Think you might get to just fly right out a window and save yourself? You got another thing coming if ya got any ideas about getting out of here any time soon. The Gov, well, he likes to take his time with the real pretty ones. Why fuck up a sweet little face like yours right off the bat? Nah, he's gonna get to know you good, real good. Inside and out."

He said all this will a huge smirk on his face that reminded her so much of Daryl. Should she tell him she knew where his brother was? Would that buy her some time, or maybe even a friend who could help her escape? She didn't really think Merle cared enough for anyone to risk his neck with the man who ran things around here. He seemed more likely to kill at the first provocation. She would say nothing for now, see if Merle showed any weakness when it came to family… then, maybe she could work a deal.

The woman who was standing close to her, whom Gaelynn had completely forgotten about, indicated that she needed to get in the tub and get finished in a hurry, time had been wasted and the Gov didn't like wasted time.

She slipped into the warm water, aware that Merle had leaned against the door jam and intended to watch her take her bath. She did her best to shut him out of her mind, to pretend she was alone, soaking in a nice hot bath, just like the times she used to take hour long soaks before the world when bat shit.

She picked up the cloth and soaped it thoroughly, then began to wash herself. She was doing a pretty good job of ignoring Merle, she was proud of herself. She washed all the last few weeks grime away. She had only used the shower on the Greene's farm once, and even then she felt guilty, like an unwelcome outsider. The woman walked just behind her and began to pour water, a little at a time over her head until her hair was soaked. She lathered up Gaelynn's hair and scrubbed her scalp roughly. Even though the woman obviously was not enjoying what she had to do, Gaelynn sat back and allowed her to work out some of her anger, she knew it would not be long before she walked in this woman's shoes. So she was kind to her and spoke to her gently.

"You girls are getting me all excited, this is better than lesbo porn!" Merle said, just before he heard his name being called by the Governor.

"I'm sure I will be seeing you again real soon Sugar Tits. This place is gonna be real entertaining for once!" he said as he headed down the hall to see what the boss wanted.

Once she was as clean as she could possibly get, she was told to stand up by the woman, who then wrapped a large towel around her and started to rub the water out of her hair with another towel.

"What's your name?" she asked the woman, half expecting to get backhanded again.

"Name's Rachel, but names don't mean much around here. I would get used to being call all kinds of filthy names if I were you. Take some advice, never, ever talk back. He would kill you just as soon as look at you if you catch him in one of his moods while mouthing off. He might be thinking he's gonna take things slow with you right now, so's you stay pretty, but all it takes is the wrong word, or even the wrong look in your weird colored eyes to set him off. Once he gets riled up, ain't no stopping him. The girl that was here before me, I hear she only lasted a few hours, made some sort of snotty comment on how filthy the place was, and he just picked up an axe that was lying next to his chair, hit her once, and she was dead. Then he spent over an hour just cutting her up, into smaller and smaller pieces. Fed 'er to his dog I hear. Can't say that's the honest truth, but I seen him out of control once, and I learnt fast not to push."

With that, she handed Gaelynn a robe, it was made of silk, real silk and was cool and silky against her skin. She could almost forget where she was, with nice things like this. But the cost of nice things was a hell of a lot more than she wanted to pay. She wished she had something like this when Daryl was around. Maybe he wouldn't have been so mean to her and angry all the time. Maybe he would have finally seen her as a woman, and not the kid he'd always called her. She wanted to know him better, to understand his ways. But now, it was too late. She didn't expect to ever see any of that group again.

Rachel led her to a large room; this one was not as nasty as other parts of the house. This one was pretty decent, the floors were clear of trash and someone had recently tried to clean, she could smell the disinfectant odor of cleaning products. The room, from where she stood, looked empty. Then from behind a drape of some sort of mesh fabric, a voice told her to make herself at home, then the person laughed, "Fuck, this is your home now, so get used to it." Then the Governor came from behind the mesh screen, wearing an old smoking jacket, silk pajama bottoms, and had taken his hair down. It looked oily and reminded her of Medusa with her head of snakes. There was nothing appealing about this man at all. No wonder he had to take women against their will, she doubted any woman had voluntarily given herself to him. But if she planned to survive, she had to do something she was not entirely certain she was capable of. She had to make him think she was fine with the situation, fine with him, and whatever he had in mind.

"Come closer" he said as he waved his hand in the air, beaconing for her stand closer to him. When she was within a mere few feet from him, he told her to stop. "Turn around, slow like; I wanna get a real good look at you."

She did as she was told. Never in her wildest dreams did she expect to leave this house alive, let alone make it out not only alive, but stronger than she had ever been in her life, more confident that she had ever felt. This man was about to teach her some lessons that he would regret, things she would be able to use against him. It would be one of the biggest mistakes he had ever made.

With this thought in her head, she smiled up at him.

Ok, I had this chapter ready months ago, but with the way it ended, I was not sure whether or not I would be able to imagine a scenario that would back up that last paragraph. So, I waited, because once it was out there, there was no way to un-ring that bell. So, its been rung and I have work to do. Wish me luck in making the next few chapters, not only believable, but convincing.

Thanx again for your patience!


	20. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The group was torn by speculation, some believed that Gaelynn was not a monster who had killed Sophia, others, mainly Shane, thought she was guilty and if they were to locate her, she should pay with her life at once.

Regardless of the differences of opinion, they packed up and continued their search for a safe place to spend the approaching winter. They did not have long before the night's temperatures would drop to near freezing. They did not have enough warm clothing or blankets to last through the long cold months ahead.

They moved as quickly as they could, trying to keep ahead of the cold. Rick kept Daryl updated on their route each day, and was getting more and more worried as each day passed that he had no news concerning the missing girl. Daryl did let Rick know that he found a farm house that was almost completely in ruins, but it yielded a nice warm coat that was only a little too large for him. He would at least be warm as he continued to search for Gaelynn.

After a week on the road, the lead vehicle spotted a sign that brought promise to their road weary minds. The sign said 'Edgefield Federal Prison' 79 miles. Rick had never even considered a prison as a choice for a safe haven, but once he saw the sign, it started to make sense to him. It would have high fences, razor wire, and guard towers most likely. If it was not over run by Walkers, this might be the best option for them. He pulled slowly off the main road; he wanted to ask the others what they thought of heading in that direction.

Once he had everyone gathered, he told them about the sign he had seen and what they thought of staying the winter in a prison, if it was not already in someone else's hands, dead or alive. If the current residents were alive, they would need to be very cautious, and keep a clear head, no matter how desperate they were becoming. No one had objections at that point; it was basically, 'let's just see what we can find out'. So they headed for the prison, and Rick alerted Daryl to the new developments.

Daryl was starting to lose track of the days. He thought he might have been out searching for 4 or 5 days now, but he was not really too sure. He killed something when he was hungry, but other than taking short naps, he kept moving. In his heart, he knew what the chances were that he would find her, but he was not ready yet to give up.

When the group reached the Prison, they were pleasantly surprised. There were around 50 or so Walkers inside the open gate, but the gate was not broken. Their first move was to rid themselves of the Walkers inside the gate, then close it. Once this was taken care of, they could start to explore the buildings. From what they could see, there were 4 rectangular structures sitting in a square shape, all attached to each other, and a fifth building, set off about 20 yards from the other 4. This would be the first one they check out after taking care of crowd control.

Each of the men, Rick, Shane, Glenn, T-Dog and Jimmy took a weapon, an axe, a shovel, anything that could be used to dispense of these Walkers with little to no noise. Andrea and Dale stood just inside the gate, ready to fire if anyone were to get into trouble. Then the guns would be used, but not unless it was completely necessary.

The slaughter began, and slowly the men cleared the yard. They took breaks when their arms became too exhausted to hit anything with enough force to penetrate the skull. The entire project took about 2 hours, but they were able to kill all the Walkers inside the gate. As they carried out this ugly business, a few more begin to gather outside the gate, where the cars were still parked. Once Rick and Shane had rested long enough, they covered the others while the vehicles were driven inside the gates.

After having a quick lunch and drinking some much needed water, the group was eager to start searching the first building.

Rick took the lead and brought only Shane, Glenn and T-Dog with him for the first look inside. The door opened with ease, no lock in place. They had to use flashlights in order to see, but at first glance, the building seemed to be deserted. They covered every room and closet, any area in which a person, dead or alive might be hidden from view. The building was vacant. Everyone who waited outside, with their hearts pounding and their nerves too riled up to even talk to each other, were finally allowed inside. They immediately set up some candles to at least brighten the area they now occupied. Some thought to themselves that they didn't care what the rest of the buildings had to offer, they were just so happy to have what seemed to be a safe place to sleep for the night. It would take a day or so before they had became so used to where they were, that the urge to explore would begin infect each of them.

After the men made sure everyone was safe and comfortable, they left that building and decided to check out the one closest to what they now considered 'Head Quarters'. As it turned out, this was D block, and was for the most part, empty. There were a few Walkers moving around in the darkness but they were quickly dispatched.

This building housed a large kitchen, an even large dining area, a gymnasium, and an infirmary. They took a quick inventory and were surprised to see that most of the building was still equipped with all the things one would find in a gym, a health clinic, and a large restaurant. Large portions of the food had spoiled and reeked. But there was still a huge amount of nonperishable's. Enough to keep them all alive for a very long time. No looting could be detected. Rick said it was most likely that escaping with their lives was the most important thing on the residents mind, be it inmate or guard.

Rick also considered the idea of returning to the farm in order to try and persuade Hershel, Patricia, and Beth to come and stay at the prison with them. The farm would always be at risk of being overrun with Walkers or worse, men who would take whatever they wanted. This place not only had an infirmary that was pretty well stocked, but a good deal of ground inside the gates that could be cultivated to grow fresh food. It was also much easier to guard and keep safe. From the guard towers, he imagined you could see anyone approaching for a mile or so away.

Maggie and Jimmy were the only ones from the farm that wanted to leave and join their group. Glenn could not be seen without a huge goofy grin on his face for the first few days. He and Maggie were in love, if they lived for a month or for 20 years, they wanted to be together.

It was beginning to get late and everyone was tired. Searching the other buildings would have to wait until the next day, as long as they could secure the doors of the building they were now in, they would just camp there for the night and see what tomorrow would bring.

In his own part of the neighboring forest, Daryl was exhausted. He had been walking for hours without stopping. He picked a spot for the night and put up his smaller one man tent. He had killed a squirrel earlier, but was too tired to set up a fire and cook it. He had eaten raw squirrel before, so tonight's menu consisted of squirrel sushi and water from a stream that ran nearby. The water was cool and much better than the tepid water he had been sipping on out of his bottle all day. So he counted that as one halfway decent thing that happened that day… and the rest was just fucking frustrating aimless wondering around, but he had to keep trying. Without even realizing it, he had grown to care for this girl a lot more than he expected or wanted too. He would not give up, not yet. He needed to see her more than anything he had ever needed, if it was only long enough to tell her how sorry he was. In his entire pointless, worthless life, he had never wanted anything as much as he wanted to just see her again. He would try harder tomorrow, but tonight, he needed sleep.


	21. Chapter 22

Chapter 22 - Home Sweet Prison Cell

West Central Prison

Rick and his group at the prison were settling in very well. Compared to the cramped space of the old RV, and sleeping in tents, this was a huge improvement. Each person or couple selected cells that were as far from the others as possible. There were days when the only time one would see others from the group, was when completing certain chores or if they happened to sit down to dinner as a group some days.

The only person who did not seem to be settling in very well was Daryl. He figured he would have long been past this feeling in the pit of his stomach. It felt as if a ball of snakes or worms were wriggling around in there, making him feel uneasy almost all the time. He began to back off from the others; he just didn't feel like joining in, sharing a meal or having to chat. He wanted to be left alone. So alone is how he spent most of his time. Although the kitchen of the prison had plenty of food, he went out hunting about every other day. It was the only thing that would help him feel like less a failure. But not by much.

Woodbury

Gaelynn woke up that morning feeling like she was coming down with something. It was going to be hard to put on a smile and be convincing. After the third day of waking with the same feeling but not getting any worse, she could feel herself start to panic. This could not be happening. The doctors that treated her when she was young told her social worker that it would be next to impossible for her to ever have children. Yet, this felt like what others had described as morning sickness. If that was the case, she would have to make her move sooner than she had planned. Everything was more or less in place, all of the clothing, camping gear and supplies she had hidden all over town would take about twenty minutes for her to collect. The biggest obstacle was getting past Merle; he seemed to always have his eyes on her. She had fooled Phillip, but there was no fooling Merle. He had an innate lack of trust for everyone.

At this point, she felt she might have to trust someone and find help. The people who worked at the medical clinic seemed almost as unhappy living in the city as she did, though she didn't now let them know this. She just watched them, and listened to what they said when they didn't know she was listening. She had access to the clinic two days a week. She had convinced Phillip to allow her to volunteer her help on Mondays and Thursdays. She told him she was so happy with her new life that she felt compelled to give back somehow. He had created this great city, and as long as she was at his side, she wanted to represent the care and giving heart she knew he had, but others sometimes failed to see. This worked perfectly. He was an evil, vicious man, but considered himself a great benefactor. So she played upon his ego and was allowed to visit the clinic on a regular basis.

First and foremost, she had to know for sure if she was pregnant. How could she find out without risking that the information would find its way back to Phillip? This week, while she was at the clinic, she would have to come to some sort of decision, could she trust a few of these people or not? It could mean an easier escape or death. At this point, she had very little to lose. If Phillip found out she was carrying his child, he would keep her under lock and key forever. She could not bear the thought of not only giving birth to his child, but having to be the mother of his kid. The thought repulsed her.

When she arrived at the clinic that next day, there was only one staff member working at that early hour. Right away, Sarah, who was a nurse before the world went to shit, could tell Gaelynn was not feeling well. Gaelynn tried to blow it off as indigestion from something she had eaten the previous night; she needed a little time to test out her theory that Sarah was just as unhappy here as she was.

"Sarah", she started, trying to sound as wistful as she could, "do you ever get tired of seeing the same people day after day, with the same self destructive ailments each time they come by?"

Sarah looked at her closely for a moment, and then plunged forward with "Girl, you have no idea! This place is aging me faster than the booze and drugs are aging my patients!"

"If you had the opportunity, what would you do about it? It's not like we are given too many choices here. What Phillip wants, Phillip gets, right?" she queried carefully.

Sarah looked at her long and hard again, sensing she had a compatriot in Gaelynn, but she was the Governor's girl, so it could be a trap. But why would he suspect her of anything? She had never let on that she was unhappy. She was a little surprised that Gaelynn had picked up on her misery.

"Hell, if I had my way, at tall, dark and handsome man would come and rescue me!" she said with a laugh. She was hoping to sound half kidding, half serious, just in case.

"What if it wasn't a tall, dark and handsome man, but a small and determined girl who could maybe rescue you?"

Sarah stood there with her mouth open for a moment, then composed herself long enough to ask "Are you serious?" as she looked around the clinic quickly to make sure no one was listening in.

"Do you trust me?" the small, beautiful young woman asked Sarah, with eyes the color of irises, and full of hope.

"I do, I trust you. But how would it be possible? The Gov has this place nailed down pretty good. I have not heard of anyone trying to escape in a very long time." Sarah asked, allowing herself to hope a bit as well.

"I have a plan. But there is something I need to know first, and I need your help with that. I need to know that what I am about to ask you goes no further than this room, just the two of us. Do I have your word on that? It's very important, for this to be kept secret, that is."

"You have my word, Gaelynn, I have always worried about you, living with him and having to deal with his mood swings and anger, but you seem to have figured out a way to make him behave himself. Honestly, I have never seen anyone do that, and I have been here from the beginning. Whatever you are doing, it works like a charm. I am so glad I don't have to see you in here on a regular basis for broken bones or stitches. Having you volunteer here frightened me at first; I was so worried I would slip up and say something that would get back to him. But I stopped being suspicious of you months ago. You can trust me with anything, I am just so glad to know I am not alone anymore."

"Ok, this is what I need you to do" she said and whispered her request in Sarah's ear.

Many apologies for the huge delay in getting this next chapter out. I have actually been going back and tweaking the beginning of this story, I was not happy about a few things and thought there was a lot of room for improvement. I have finished the first 3 or 4 chapters and now need to replace them. So as I go along until the completion of this story, I will also be doing a re-write on the prior chapters. If you feel so inclined, go back and check it out, fresh. I will try to get the first few chapters replaced tonight. I think you will like what I am doing.


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